Micronutrient deficiencies in patients with COVID-19: how metabolomics can contribute to their prevention and replenishment

Abstract

Dear Editors, Reading the recent article by McAuliffe et al ,1 we were interested in the approach presented to target the micronutrient deficiencies of the high-risk population for COVID-19 and empower their immune system against the infection.1 The authors present evidence on the central role of selected nutrients on the immune system function against respiratory infections while showing clinical data from studies using prophylactic supplementation. However, clinical studies have not yielded conclusive results on the beneficial role of nutrient supplementation to the support of the immune system that can be translated into clinical practice. The authors report three main reasons that we will elaborate on in this letter: (1) poor study design; (2) lack of an established methodology for the assessment of the micronutrient status; and (3) unstandardised optimal dosing of the nutritional supplements. Clinical studies are usually designed to assess the role of a single nutrient on the immune system function. Although this approach facilitates close monitoring of the nutrient subtraction/supplementation effect, it does not reflect the …