Natural Supplements for COVID19—Background, Rationale, and Clinical Trials

• Main Authors: Melody Hermel MD, Megan Sweeney MPH, Yu-Ming Ni MD, Robert Bonakdar MD, Douglas Triffon MD, Christopher Suhar MD, Sandeep Mehta MD, Sarah Dalhoumi MD, James Gray MD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2021-08-01
• Series: Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/2515690X211036875

Worldwide, the turmoil of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has generated a burst of research efforts in search of effective prevention and treatment modalities. Current recommendations on natural supplements arise from mostly anecdotal evidence in other viral infections and expert opinion, and many clinical trials are ongoing. Here the authors review the evidence and rationale for the use of natural supplements for prevention and treatment of COVID-19, including those with potential benefit and those with potential harms. Specifically, the authors review probiotics, dietary patterns, micronutrients, antioxidants, polyphenols, melatonin, and cannabinoids. Authors critically evaluated and summarized the biomedical literature published in peer-reviewed journals, preprint servers, and current guidelines recommended by expert scientific governing bodies. Ongoing and future trials registered on clinicaltrials.gov were also recorded, appraised, and considered in conjunction with the literature findings. In light of the controversial issues surrounding the manufacturing and marketing of natural supplements and limited scientific evidence available, the authors assessed the available data and present this review to equip clinicians with the necessary information regarding the evidence for and potential harms of usage to promote open discussions with patients who are considering dietary supplements to prevent and treat COVID-19.