Objective:

This review highlights our current understanding of Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 Syndrome (PASC) as it is influenced by gut dysbiosis, nutrition, and diet quality.

Background:

Long Covid, also known as Post Covid Condition by the CDC or PASC by the NIH, is a syndrome characterized by multi-organ symptoms that exist more than three months post-infection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The gastrointestinal (GI) system is a potential avenue for COVID-19’s influence on long-term immunologic modulation as well as a predictor of severity.

Design/Methods:

A literature search of PubMed was conducted with the following keywords: “Long Covid”, “Post Covid Condition”, or “Postacute Sequelae of SARS_COV-2”, “COVID-19”, “Gut Microbiome” or “Gut Dysbiosis”, “Diet”or “Nutrition” or “Mediterranean Diet” or “MeDi”, “MIND Diet” or “DASH Diet”, “Myalgic encephalomyelitis” or “Chronic fatigue syndrome”, “Post-acute Infection Syndrome”, “Neurodegenerative disease”.  Articles included peer-reviewed cohort or cross-sectional studies, meta-analyses, original papers, or systematic reviews predominantly between 2011 and 2023. Articles were excluded if written in non-English language; studied children <18 years old.

Results:

Recent literature shows that gut dysbiosis is correlated with increased severity and duration of PASC symptoms. Because of the existing association between diet on the components of the gut microbiome, we investigated whether certain nutrients impact the risk of PASC severity. Nutrition, previously shown to play a role in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases, may feature an avenue to mitigate long-term sequelae of PASC.

Conclusions: