Can vitamin B12 be an adjuvant to COVID-19 treatment?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30574/gscbps.2020.11.3.0155Keywords:
Coronavirus disease 2019, Vitamin, Methylcobalamin, Methyl-12, CobalaminAbstract
COVID-19 has become an international pandemic and is causing a worldwide public health emergency; therefore, an effective treatment is urgently needed. The hypothesis is that Covid virus interferes with the cobalamin metabolism, causing symptoms of cobalamin deficiency. This is plausible to infer, because there are symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency that are similar to those of COVID-19. These symptoms include increase oxidative stress, homocysteine concentration, activation of the coagulation cascade, thrombocytopenia, elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), low reticulocyte count, intravascular coagulation thrombosis, vasoconstriction, renal and pulmonary vasculopathies, which can result in respiratory, gastrointestinal and central nervous system disorders. Research shows that high doses of methylcobalamin is the treatment for symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency. Thus, an additional hypothesis is that treatment with vitamin B12, especially methylcobalamin, would reduce Covid's damage to infected patients. Hence, in this review article it is suggested that methylcobalamin (vitamin B12) may serve as an attenuator to COVID-19 symptoms. Clinical studies are required to confirm this hypothesis.
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