Nutrition Management and Recommendations for Improving the Outcomes of Coronavirus Disease 2019-A Narrative Review

Abstract

Context: Nutritional management of Covid-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) patients can serve as a tool to strengthen the patient's immune system and provide sufficient physiological resources to maintain vital functions during the fight between the virus and the body. This review aimed to highlight available recommendations for the nutritional management of Covid-19 patients based on previous treatments used in similar diseases. Evidence Acquisition: For this narrative review, a comprehensive search was performed in three databases, including PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases from January 2020 to 7th December 2021, in the English language. The articles that focused on nutrition, diet, food, immunity, and coronavirus were searched. The titles and abstracts of all imported articles were screened. Only systematic and narrative reviews, commentary, opinion, prospective, and original articles, which related to the study question, were included. Studies which investigated the role of nutrition in the prevention of Covid-19 were excluded. Conclusion: Due to the unique nature of Covid-19 and the role of nutrition in immunity and prognosis of Covid-19, the nutritional needs of patients with Covid-19 differ from others. Accordingly, the provision of these specific nutrient requirements and paying attention to the use of effective food supplements when adjusting the diet plan of patients with Covid-19 can be effective in improving patients' conditions. Therefore, more studies in this field can be helpful.