b'Have You Herd? in wearing a face maskResisting Insulin ResistanceSwedensseniorepide- inSweden,notevenCardiovascular disease (CVD) is the lead-miologist, Dr. Anders Teg- onpublictransport,ing cause of death in the U.S., accounting nell,toldanItaliannews- accordingtoFortune.for one in three deaths. Diabetes is official-paper,SwedenhasgoneWhatweseenowisly the seventh leading cause of death, but frombeingthecountrythatthesustainabledeaths from the condition may be under-with the most infections inpolicy might be slowerreported, according to the American Di-Europe to the safest one.ingettingresults,butabetesAssociation.Themostsignificant TheScandinaviancountryit will get results even- health disorder, underlying both of these now has one of the lowesttually,Tegnellsaid,and other conditions, is insulin resistance, infection rates in the Worldand then we also hopeaccording to Robert Lustig, M.D., a mem-despite never having man- thattheresultwillbeber of the Institute for Health Policy Stud-datedface-masklawsorlockdowns.Inmore stable. iesattheUniversityofCalifornia,San the first week of September, the EuropeanFrancisco, and Dr. Aseem Malhotra, Hon-Centre for Disease Prevention and ControlStaff writer, In Svezia pochi casi di corona- orary Consultant Cardiologist of Frimley said Swedens infection rate stood at onlyvirus La nostra strategia ha funzionato,ParkHospital,NHSFoundationTrust, 12casespermillion,comparedto18inCorriere Della Sera, September 5, 2020,UK. They propose that insulin resistance Denmark and 14 in Norway. Out of 2,500at https://www.corriere.it/esteri/20_settem- is the most important predictor of CVD randomlyselectedandtestedSwedes,bre_05/svezia-pochi-casi-coronavirus-la- and type 2 diabetes and summarize sever-zero tested positive, compared to 0.9 per- nostra-strategia-ha-funzionato-5d030394- al studies to explain its significance. One cent who tested positive in April, and 0.3ef63-11ea-94cc-1f80cc642b17.shtml; ECDC,study examined a group of people who percent in May. Covid-19 pandemic, ECDC, at https:// wereinsulin-sensitive,healthypeople Karin Tegmark, deputy head of the Pub- www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19-pandemic;who require smaller amounts of insulin to lic Health Agency of Sweden, said, WeDaly C & Bloomberg, We see no point inlower their blood glucosethe opposite interpret this as meaning there is not cur- wearing a face mask, Swedens top virus ex- of insulin resistant. After five years, they rently a widespread infection among peo- pert says as he touts the countrys improvingfoundthatnoneofthepeoplewhore-ple who do not have symptoms. Dr. Teg- COVID numbers, Fortune, Jul 29, 2020; atmained insulin sensitive developed heart nelladded,Withnumbersdiminishinghttps://fortune.com/2020/07/29/no-point-in- disease, whereas 14 percent of people in very quickly in Sweden, we see no pointwearing-mask-sweden-covid. the highest 20 percent of insulin resistance developed heart disease in the same peri-od. In another study, up to 69 percent of that NAC could be an effective treatment,patients who were hospitalized with acute especiallybecauseitdissolvesmucus,heart attacks were found to have metabolic preventsbloodclotformation,andcansyndrome, a diabetes precursor. They also potentiallypreventadeadlycytokinecritique blood cholesterol as a risk factor: storm. In May 2020, the Memorial SloanThere are 44 randomized controlled trials KetteringCancerCenterannouncedaof drug or dietary interventions to lower one-year trial involving the intravenousLDL-C in the primary and secondary pre-administration of NAC in COVID-19 pa- vention literature, which show no benefit tients with severe disease. NAC could beon mortality. There is no single test that atherapeuticagentinthetreatmentofcandirectlydiagnoseinsulinresistance, COVID-19 through a variety of potentialbut medical history, physical examination, mechanisms,includingincreasingglu- andbloodtestingofHemoglobinA1c, N-acetylcysteine for COVID-19 tathione, improving T cell response, andfasting blood glucose, and a lipid panel Theaminoacidn-acetylcyste- modulating inflammation.can indicate a persons level of risk. ine (NAC) helps the body synthesize andLustig R & Malhotra A, The cholesterol and useprotectiveantioxidants,especiallyDe Flora S, Grassi C, Carati L, Attenuation ofcalorie hypotheses are both deadit is time the master antioxidant glutathione. Ainfluenza-like symptomatology and improvementto focus on the real culprit: insulin resis-randomized,double-blind,clinicaltri- of cell-mediated immunity with long-term N-ace- tance, Clinical Pharmacist, Jul 14, 2017, al in 1997 involving 262 participants oftylcysteine treatment, European Respiratorydoi:10.1211/cp.2017.20203046.bothsexesat20ItaliancentersshowedJournal, 1997; 10: 1535-1541; Polonikov A, that NAC brought about a significant re- Endogenous Deficiency of Glutathione as the Most ductionofinfluenzaandinfluenza-likeLikely Cause of Serious Manifestations and Death episodes, especially in elderly, high-riskin COVID-19 Patients, ACS Infect. Dis, May 28, individuals.Morerecently,aRussian2020, 6, 7, 1558-1562, at https://doi.org/10.1021/acsinfecdis.0c00288; NIH, A Study of N-acetylcys-scientist proposed that deficiency of glu- teine in Patients With COVID-19 Infection, U.S. tathione is the most likely cause of seri- National Library of Medicine, May 5, 2020, Clin-ous manifestations and death in patientsicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04374461, at https://with the novel coronavirus infection, andclinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04374461.H ealtHF reedomN ews /F all2020 25HFN_FALL-2020_11-02-2020-FINAL.indd 25 11/2/20 8:50 PM'