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by Marion Nestle

Jan 18 2021

Annals of nutritional epidemiology: Can cabbage mitigate the severity of Covid-19?

Why, you must be asking, am I even asking a question like this?

Because of this study, obviously, which I somehow missed when it came out in August (thanks to toxicologist Marc Stifelman for sending it to me).

The study: Cabbage and fermented vegetables: From death rate heterogeneity in countries to candidates for mitigation strategies of severe COVID‐19. Bousquet U, et al. Allergy. 2020 Aug 6;10.1111/all.14549. Online ahead of print.

The hypothesis:

The basic observation behind this study is that countries differ in death rates from Covid-19, and death rates differ between regions in the same country.
Differences in diet could account for differing death rates.
People in countries with low death rates typically eat cabbage and fermented vegetables.
Cabbage and fermented vegetables contain precursors of sulforaphane, the most active natural activator of an antioxidant in the metabolic pathway most affected by Covid-19. They also promote a healthy microbiome.

The nutritional epidemiology:

CAUTION: Correlation does not necessarily mean causation. The diets—and other lifestyle characteristics—of people in Romania and Latvia differ from those in the UK and Italy in other ways besides diet; other differences might well account for these variations.

Personally, I love cabbage in any form.

But for prevention of bad outcomes from Covid-19, I’m counting on vaccination, not kimchi or sauerkraut.

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Tags: Coronavirus, Epidemiology, Microbiome, Vegetables

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Next public appearance

Mar 12 2025

Online: Bobst Library Critical Topics Series—20th Anniversary

Join NYU Libraries for an insightful discussion with some of our most esteemed panelists about how the conversation, study, and action around food has evolved over the last two decades. Together, we’ll reflect on 20 years of the Critical Topics in Food event series and examine the role that thoughtful community gatherings like these have played in shaping our collective dialogue about food. The Critical Topics in Food event series is a partnership between NYU Special Collections, NYU Steinhardt Department of Nutrition & Food Studies, and Clark Wolf.

Speakers: Dr. Marion Nestle, Author & Paulette Goddard Professor Emerita of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health. Jessica B. Harris, Scholar and Storyteller of African diasporic foodways. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Professor Emerita of Performance Studies at New York University. Krishnendu Ray, Author & Professor, Steinhardt Department of Nutrition and Food Studies. Moderated by Clark Wolf, Author, NPR Host & Consultant.

The event is presented in zoom. 5:00 p.m. EDT. For information and registration, click here.