The French national agency for health, food, environment and work (ANSES) warns against the consumption of food supplements which can disturb the immune response. Some dietary supplements contain plants with anti-inflammatory properties that can work like non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
These plants are capable of disrupting the body’s natural defenses which are useful for fighting infections and, in particular, against COVID-19. The plants covered by the ANSES opinion are: willow, meadowsweet, harpagophytum, turmeric, echinacea, birch, poplar, licorice, etc.
Given this work, ANSES recommends:
- people consuming these food supplements with a preventive aim to immediately suspend the consumption of food supplements containing these plants as soon as the first symptoms of COVID-19 appear.
- people consuming these food supplements in the context of chronic inflammatory pathologies imperatively discuss with their doctor the relevance of continuing or not their consumption.
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