Nutritional and lifestyle changes required for minimizing the recovery period in home quarantined COVID-19 patients of Punjab, Pakistan

Roshina Rabail; Javeria Saleem; Zunera Tanveer; Simon G Patching; Abdur Rauf Khalid; Muhammad Tauseef Sultan; Muhammad Faisal Manzoor; Emad Karrar; Muhammad Inam-Ur-Raheem; Muhammad Asim Shabbir; Rana Muhammad Aadil

doi:10.1002/fsn3.2458

Nutritional and lifestyle changes required for minimizing the recovery period in home quarantined COVID-19 patients of Punjab, Pakistan

Food Sci Nutr. 2021 Jul 9;9(9):5036-5059. doi: 10.1002/fsn3.2458. eCollection 2021 Sep.

Affiliations

¹ National Institute of Food Science and Technology University of Agriculture Faisalabad Pakistan.
² Department of Public Health, Institute of Social and Cultural Studies University of the Punjab Lahore Pakistan.
³ Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB) University of Lahore Lahore Pakistan.
⁴ Department of Physiology Bolan University of Medical and Health Sciences (BUMHS) Quetta Pakistan.
⁵ School of Biomedical Sciences and Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology University of Leeds Leeds UK.
⁶ Department of Livestock and Poultry Production Faculty of Veterinary Sciences Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan Pakistan.
⁷ Institute of Food Science and Nutrition Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan Pakistan.
⁸ School of Food and Biological Engineering Jiangsu University Zhenjiang China.
⁹ Department of Food Engineering and Technology Faculty of Engineering and Technology University Gezira Wad Medani Sudan.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a new battle in human history for a safe and fearless life. Therefore, this cross-sectional survey was conducted (Punjab, Pakistan) on healthy recovered, home quarantined COVID-19 patients to draw conclusive health support guidelines in the fight against this pandemic. COVID-19 recovered patients (n = 80) of age ≥14 years were randomly selected during the period November 2020 to February 2021. A nutrition and lifestyle changes questionnaire, containing ten sections and seventy questions, was completed through the telephone/WhatsApp. Data were transferred into an Excel spreadsheet and statistically analyzed by applying chi-square, correlation, and a t test of independent values using SPSS-16 software. The patients had an age range of 14 to 80 years, of which 52 (65%) were male and 28 (35%) were female, and 32 (40%) had a normal BMI. The patients had a peak COVID-19 recovery period of 2 weeks, and a mean recovery period of 2.8 ± 1.4 weeks. Certain variables, including gender (males), age (>40 years), sleep (≤5 hr), less/no physical activity, obesity, diabetes mellitus, and autoimmune diseases, were significantly associated with delayed recovery. Poor nutritional outcomes, including lower intakes of water, legumes, nuts, meat, and milk/yogurt; and higher consumption of fast/fried/junk/spicy foods and cold water/drinks, were also significantly associated with a longer recovery period. The results were similar for not taking daily doses of multivitamins, and vitamins C, D, E, and zinc. This study identified that staying physically active, maintaining sensible body weight, having a sleep of 7 hr, consuming more foods of plant origin especially plant-based proteins from nuts and legumes, taking supplemental doses of multivitamins, vitamin D, E, and zinc, along with drinking ≥2 L of water daily can provide a significant role in early and safe recovery from COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID‐19; lifestyle; nutrition; recovery; vitamin supplements.