{"id":60274,"date":"2021-04-14T10:31:12","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T14:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=60274"},"modified":"2021-04-14T10:52:50","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T14:52:50","slug":"check-out-this-effective-covid-cure-and-or-prophylactic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=60274","title":{"rendered":"Check out this effective Covid ‘cure’ and\/or ‘prophylactic’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can a cup of yogurt ‘cure’ your case of COVID-19?<\/h1>\n

<\/p>\n

Pre-clinical research by Israeli scientists, published in Microbiome, indicates that Kefir could be used to treat cytokine storms caused by coronavirus.<\/h3>\n

By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN
\nThe Jerusalem Post<\/p>\n

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Prof. Raz Jelinek and Ms. Orit Malka with their unique probiotic yogurt at Ben-Gurion University laboratory. (photo credit: DANI MACHLIS)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Can a cup of probiotic yogurt help save the lives of people with\u00a0COVID-19<\/a>?<\/div>\n
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Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev say they have identified molecules in kefir that are effective at treating various inflammatory conditions, including \u201ccytokine storms\u201d caused by COVID-19.<\/div>\n
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Kefir, which is similar to yogurt but thinner in consistency, is a fermented drink made by inoculating cow\u2019s or goat\u2019s milk with microorganism mixtures, such as yeast and bacteria. A cytokine storm is when the body\u2019s immune system goes into overdrive and attacks itself \u2013 one of the leading causes of death in\u00a0COVID-19<\/a>\u00a0patients.<\/div>\n
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The research was conducted by PhD student Orit Malka and Prof. Raz Jelinek, vice president and dean for research and development at BGU. It was recently published in the peer-reviewed journal\u00a0Microbiome<\/em>.<\/div>\n
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Several years before the coronavirus pandemic, Malka noticed that yogurt had a therapeutic effect and began studying it in Jelinek\u2019s lab, Jelinek told The Jerusalem Post. They identified molecules in the yogurt that had dramatic antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties.<\/div>\n
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\u201cOne of the main reasons people die of COVID is the cytokine storm,\u201d Jelinek said. \u201cCytokines are immune molecules that are designed to help the body fight invaders like viruses. But in certain circumstances, and scientists don\u2019t know exactly why, the body goes into a sort of overdrive and secretes many cytokines \u2013 so many that it kills you. That is what happens during COVID.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe knew that we had found these molecules in yogurt with anti-inflammatory properties,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, when COVID started, we said, Let\u2019s see if these molecules can help against cytokine storms.\u201d<\/div>\n
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The mice that had the storm and were not treated died. But the mice that were treated with the molecules they found in the yogurt had a complete recovery. The molecules not only eliminated the cytokine storm, they also restored balance to the immune system.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThis was really remarkable,\u201d Jelinek said.<\/div>\n
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The scientists said they also administered the molecules to the mice via their mouths; they were placed in water and entered the mice\u2019s digestive systems just like a normal drink.<\/div>\n
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During the pandemic, Jelinek and Malka had hoped they could administer these molecules to patients who were in critical condition. But regulatory hurdles delayed the process, and they did not succeed, Jelinek said. Now, their next step is to conduct clinical trials with other cytokine storms.<\/div>\n
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\u201cCytokine storms don\u2019t only happen with COVID,\u201d Jelinek said. \u201cThis is a very bad condition with really very few treatments against it.\u201d<\/div>\n
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The researchers are about to make a start-up company under the BGN Technologies umbrella for further development and commercialization of the technology. The company should formally be launched within the next few weeks, and then they will raise funds to conduct clinical experiments, Jelinek said. Hopefully, trials will begin within a few months, he said.<\/p>\n

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Prof. Eran Segal, a computational biologist for the Weizmann Institute of Science who has published extensively on the subject of probiotics, said that “I am a strong believer in the concept of probiotics when given for the right indications and after proper research and showing some benefits.”<\/p>\n

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On the other hand, he said, “a lot of probiotics that are given, don’t do anything.”<\/div>\n
“The potential is huge,” he added. “I think it is still in the early days.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The path from the lab to the table is likely to be long, Jelinek admitted. Even though the molecules come from yogurt that people could eat every day, they would be considered a drug and will have to undergo the full scrutiny of any new medicine before receiving approval, Jelinek said.<\/div>\n
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As such, the company will likely take the molecules in another direction at the same time \u2013 as a food additive, probiotic or supplement \u2013 to speed up the approval process, he said.<\/div>\n
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Jelinek said he and Malka did other experiments with the kefir, and they were also able to demonstrate that the molecules have the potential to combat pathogenic bacteria. Specifically, they showed that the molecules were able to significantly reduce virulence of the causative agent of cholera, he said.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThis is the first demonstration that virulence of human pathogenic bacteria can be mitigated by molecules secreted in probiotic milk products, such as yogurt or kefir,\u201d Jelinek said. \u201cI don\u2019t think there were any molecular mechanisms that people knew for sure would have a therapeutic effect. Now we know.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

___
\nhttps:\/\/www.jpost.com\/health-science\/could-a-cup-of-yogurt-cure-your-case-of-covid-19-664976<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can a cup of yogurt ‘cure’ your case of COVID-19?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60274\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}