The Preventive Effect of Dietary Antioxidants on Viral Infection (Coronavirus Disease-2019, Influenza and Human Papillomavirus) and the Development of Cervical Carcinogenesis

The Preventive Effect of Dietary Antioxidants on Viral Infection (Coronavirus Disease-2019, Influenza and Human Papillomavirus) and the Development of Cervical Carcinogenesis.

Viral infections cause the production of radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cells. Disbalance between ROS generation and elimination results in oxidative stress. Oxidative
stress plays an important role in pathogenesis. Thus, oxidative processes cause virus replication in infected cells, decrease cell proliferation and induce cell apoptosis, leading to chain reactions
and subsequently damaging the cells of organisms. In contrast, an antioxidant is any substance that significantly inhibits or delays the oxidation of a substance. The role of antioxidants is also to
complete chain reactions and prevent the damage of cellular components due to free radicals and associated chemical reactions. Beck also insisted that the antioxidant selenoenzyme, glutathione
peroxidase-1, was found to be critically important, as glutathione peroxidase knockout mice developed myocarditis, when infected with a benign strain of myocarditis. This work points to the importance of host nutrition in not only optimizing the host immune response, but also preventing viral mutations that could increase viral pathogenesis.

Coronaviruses (CoVs) are single-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) viruses which cause respiratory, gastrointestinal, hepatic and neurologic disease.6 Above all, coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) disease began to spread from Wuhan, China, in December 2019.7,8 On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the world wide COVID-19 pandemic only 2-months after the official disclosure from the Chinese government.

Vitamin D induces cathelicidins and defensins which can lower viral replication rates and reduce concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which produce the inflammation that injures the lining of the lungs, leading to pneumonia, as well as increase the concentrations of anti-inflammatory cytokines can also reduce risk of infection.14 Therefore, vitamin D can reduce risk of viral infection.

Women Health Open J. 2021; 7(2): 34-37. doi: 10.17140/WHOJ-7-145