Science
Listen here to the extended version of the abridged interview with Ron Rosedale that broadcast on HowonEarthradio April 14, 2020. Transcript is below. Host/Producer/Engineer: Shelley Schlender TRANSCRIPT OF EXTENDED INTERVIEW Ron Rosedale, MD, Talks about COVID 19, the Immune System and Cytokine Storms DATE: April 14th 2020 Introduction — The Centers for Disease Control reports that people are at greater risk for Covid-19 hospitalization and often deadly cytokine stoems, if they have pre-existing health conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease. Everyone says that healthy eating might reduce these risks - but does healthy mean the New York Times distractibaking comfort foods of brownies and Nutella shortcake? Does it mean taking dozens of supplements and cutting out fatty junk foods, as Cristina Cuomo recommends for her husband, CNN’s Chris Cuomo? Up next, we talk with Medical Doctor Ron Rosedale about why he believes that eating and sleeping in a way that reduces high levels of the hormone leptin might reduce the chance of severe symptoms of Covid-19, such as cytokine storms. This is an interview to help you ask questions about the science behind your health choices. This is NOT an interview to take the place of medical advice. Talk with a doctor you trust, if you have questions about your health, and especially if you’re taking medications, and monitor for changes to your need for medications whenever you’re doing a lifestyle change, such as changing your diet. TRANSCRIPT RON ROSEDALE Can you hear me? SHELLEY I'm using the high tech method of recording this phone call on my handheld zoom recorder as you speak on What's App from India. RON ROSEDALE Yes, I am in India. I’m actually here helping a family known as the Ambani family. Very, very, very prominent. Probably the most prominent, not even probably -- they are the most prominent family in India, with their health. And they have they're mostly located in Mumbai, but ended up getting locked down in a town called Chandigarh. So that's where I am in a town north of Mumbai called Chandigarh SHELLEY We've certainly been thinking about India from here in the United States, because there's so much concern that India's population density, meaning it’s in great danger from what will happen with Coronavirus. On the other hand, there's also a thought that perhaps India and Pakistan, because they do tuberculosis vaccines, might have an unusual amount of protection. RON ROSEDALE Not just tuberculosis, but Malaria. So, you know, malaria is fairly rampant so many people have taken quinalones, chloroquine, things like that, which is being touted as there is a medication to help treat the Coronavirus. So that's one way of looking at it. THE KEY TO FIGHTING AN INFECTION IS A STRONG IMMUNE SYSTEM RON ROSEDALE However, the most important thing to fight any infection, especially viruses, is going to be a strong immune system. And that's really the only way epidemics subside. It's not that the bug goes away, but that people become immune to it. And that's especially true for viruses. TOO MUCH PROTEIN IN USA; TOO LITTLE PROTEIN IN INDIA And the problem here in India is that many people have deficiencies that impair their immune system. So, for instance, whereas in the US, people eat too much protein, which also impairs the immune system, actually, because excess protein is made into sugar. And it raises insulin and it causes what's called glycation when sugar molecules combine with other proteins and other molecules that impair their function. And antibodies for the immune system are proteins. Protein is very necessary for the immune system. So in the US they eat too much protein, but in India, they eat too little in general, and they don't have enough protein to actually mount a strong immune system to make antibodies. And so one of the problems with India is a deficiency of protein in general.