The American Conservative reports:
A study from the CDC examining 540,667 adults hospitalized with Covid-19 from March of last year to March of this year found that about 95 percent had at least one underlying medical condition. Hypertension and disorders of lipid metabolism were the most frequent (about 50 percent each), whereas obesity (33 percent), certain experiences of diabetes, and anxiety disorders were the strongest risk factors for a severe or fatal hospitalization case of Covid-19. Much of this can be distilled as the many possible consequences and manifestations of metabolic disease, most obvious (though “skinny fat” is real) in being generally overweight.
There's more:
You might already be a healthy weight, without 15 pounds to lose, but that makes you a minority in America. More than 70 percent of adult Americans are considered overweight; about 36 percent are obese. Many people reported substantial weight gain during lockdowns this past year.
How bad?
In fact, the lockdown lifestyle was, according to a study of the “cytokine storm” response to Covid infections available through the NIH, exactly the sort of thing that makes outcomes worse. The researchers focus on “the link between unhealthy lifestyle characteristics, excess body mass and abnormalities in systemic inflammation,” coming to the same conclusion as the study above, that, “In such individuals, the stage is set for increased COVID-19 severity in the event of infection.” After reviewing the mechanism of the cytokine storm, and observing the relationship of a sedentary lifestyle and poor diet with inflammation, the study recommends that “healthy living medicine should be practiced with renewed vigor to improve human resiliency to health threats posed by both chronic disease and viral infections.” It’s time to prescribe diet and exercise again.
An article , well worth your time.
