Pesce Marcella, Seguella Luisa, Cassarano Sara, Aurino Laura, Sanseverino Walter, Lu Jie, Corpetti Chiara, Del Re Alessandro, Vincenzi Martina, Sarnelli Giovanni, Esposito Giuseppe
Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy.
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Phytother Res. 2021 May;35(5):2514-2522. doi: 10.1002/ptr.6978. Epub 2020 Dec 9.
At present, googling the search terms "COVID-19" and "Functional foods" yields nearly 500,000,000 hits, witnessing the growing interest of the scientific community and the general public in the role of nutrition and nutraceuticals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many compounds have been proposed as phytotherapics in the prevention and/or treatment of COVID-19. The extensive interest of the general public and the enormous social media coverage on this topic urges the scientific community to address the question of whether which nutraceuticals can actually be employed in preventing and treating this newly described coronavirus-related disease. Recently, the Canadian biotech pharma company "FSD Pharma" received the green light from the Food and Drug Administration to design a proof-of-concept study evaluating the effects of ultramicronized palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) in COVID-19 patients. The story of PEA as a nutraceutical to prevent and treat infectious diseases dates back to the 1970s where the molecule was branded under the name Impulsin and was used for its immunomodulatory properties in influenza virus infection. The present paper aims at analyzing the potential of PEA as a nutraceutical and the previous evidence suggesting its anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties in infectious and respiratory diseases and how these could translate to COVID-19 care.
目前，在谷歌上搜索“COVID-19”和“功能性食品”这两个关键词，能得到近5亿条搜索结果，这表明科学界和公众对营养及营养保健品在COVID-19大流行期间所起作用的兴趣与日俱增。许多化合物已被提议作为预防和/或治疗COVID-19的植物疗法。公众的广泛关注以及社交媒体对该话题的大量报道促使科学界去探讨哪些营养保健品实际上可用于预防和治疗这种新描述的冠状病毒相关疾病。最近，加拿大生物科技制药公司“FSD Pharma”获得了美国食品药品监督管理局的批准，开展一项概念验证研究，评估超微化棕榈酰乙醇胺（PEA）对COVID-19患者的疗效。PEA作为一种预防和治疗传染病的营养保健品，其历史可追溯到20世纪70年代，当时该分子以Impulsin的名称被推广，并因其在流感病毒感染中的免疫调节特性而被使用。本文旨在分析PEA作为营养保健品的潜力，以及此前表明其在传染病和呼吸道疾病中具有抗炎和免疫调节特性的证据，以及这些特性如何转化为对COVID-19的治疗作用。
