Poor diet accounted for 63% of COVID hospitalizations in the U.S., according to Dr. Mark Hyman, founder of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine.
In an interview with Environmental Working Group President Ken Cook, Hyman said he’s “incredibly frustrated” that America’s response to the pandemic has been expensive, trillion-dollar efforts to develop new drugs and vaccines.
“Almost nobody is talking about the reason why America has 5% of the world’s population and at one point had 25% of the world’s COVID cases and deaths,” said Hyman. “It’s because of our toxic diet.”
Hyman pointed to research from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy on the impact of comorbidities on COVID cases in adults.
The study, published in early 2021 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, found nearly two-thirds of COVID hospitalizations in adults were linked to at least one pre-existing condition: obesity, hypertension, diabetes and heart failure.
One of the study’s co-authors, Meghan O’Hearn, wrote:
“Our new research on obesity, diabetes and COVID suggests 63% of U.S. hospitalizations for COVID may have been prevented, due to less severe illness, if we had a metabolically healthy population.
“This is a wake-up call to improve our nation’s metabolic health through improvements to diet and physical activity, both for this pandemic and the future ones certain to come.”
Hyman also cited a study that found people with a vitamin D level over 50 have close to a zero chance of dying from COVID. “There’s no zero from any other drug or vaccine,” Hyman said.
“Why don’t we have a vitamin D mandate?” he asked. “It should be given out free to everyone. It’s super cheap and very safe.”
Hyman stressed that the human body is not a bunch of parts stuck together randomly. It’s a “dynamic, adaptive and complex system that’s constantly evolving and changing in relation to the environment, diet, environmental toxins, stress and our thoughts and feelings,” he said.
In the interview, Hyman reveals two simple questions everyone should ask when it comes to getting their health on track.
Watch the interview here:
