Viral Immunity Guide

Background

COVID-19 is the disease caused by the novel coronavirus named SARS-Cov2. Other dangerous coronaviruses include MERS and SARS-Cov, both causing respiratory distress, as well as less dangerous coronaviruses causing the common cold and flu. While there are unique characteristics with the SARS-Cov2 virus, some mechanisms it uses are shared with other coronaviruses, so we can potentially benefit from using that knowledge.

Strategies include:

  • Slow the Enemy. Block or slow down mechanisms used by the coronavirus to replicate, buying time for the immune system to fight it effectively.   
  • Support the Troops. Provide the basic nutrients needed by various immune system cells, organs, and signaling systems to defend the body against the virus.   
  • Avoid Friendly Fire. Balance the immune response to reduce collateral damage from the body's own defenses damaging itself if symptoms become more severe.

Methods include:

  • Identify core and optional nutrients associated with the strategies above.   
  • Using foods and physician-grade supplements to supply needed nutrients.   
  • Using home-based tests when needed to measure nutrient blood levels.   
  • Using other immune strengthening approaches around diet, exercise and lifestyle factors.
Please Read The COVID-19 Announcement
ALan Gale
Alan Gale, CEO Aimee Health
Thank you for reviewing this Viral Immunity Guide prepared by Aimee Health. We’re a dedicated team from San Francisco using technology to improve health through personalized nutrition. Our signature product is our mobile app identifying nutrient needs from food with photographs, using Al to recommend foods and supplements, and validating with home-based biomarker tests. We focus on enabling your own body to heal and maintain itself. On March 17, 2020, our city and 7 million people in neighboring counties went on lock down. A pandemic wave was about to hit, and it would be unlike anything experienced in our lifetime. War had been declared by an invisible enemy, and we were about to be attacked. During our weekly all hands team meeting the night before, we made the collective decision that we had to do something. We decided to re-purpose our technology (and minds) to improve population-wide immunity, one person at a ti me. Personal immunity is collective immunity. If my immunity defeats the virus, it doesn t spread to those around me. It’s another way to flatten the curve. We would create a new online assessment to determine viral risk and immunity issues (e.g. depressed or overactive immune systems), combined with science-based protocol action plans based on assessments, with products curated from the best sources for additional nutritional needs beyond food, and biomarker tests to validate everything worked. We reached out to our network of advisors including medical doctors, PhD s, registered dietitian nutritionists, and educat ors. The outpouring of information about immunity and viral protection was heartwarming (and voluminous), but we’ve reviewed it, organized it, and hopefully made it useful as a practical guide which you’re now reading. We emphasize that each person is unique, so what works for one group of people may not work for others or yourself. For this reason, we encourage you to validate that any intervention is effective, from using online assessments, to biomarker tests, to working with your doctor. Use this guide as a starting point for further investigation, and we will do our best to support you. You are the general of your own Immunity Army (Navy and Marines). Take care of your troops. Make sure they are well supplied (nutritionally) . Guide them with the right strategy and tactics to win the war. This is your field guide. Alan Gale, CEO Aimee Health
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COVID-19 Progression
5 steps how the disease develops
  • Step 1
    Exposure
    Virus enters body through mouth, nose, or eyes
  • Step 2
    Attachment + Insertion
    Spike protein attaches to ACE2 receptors in respiratory tract and lung cells, inserts genetic RNA
  • Step 3
    Replication + Release
    Viral RNA hijacks cell machinery, copies all viral parts, assembles and releases new viruses
  • Step 4
    Lung Alveoli Damage
    Infected lung cells where oxygen is exchanged call immune cells, attacking with chemicals causing lung damage and inflammation
  • Step 5
    Inflammation Storm           
    Inflammation increases fluid in the lungs making it harder to breath, progressing to entry into the circulatory system where damage increases blood clots
What are Immunotypes?

Immunotypes are categories describing how an individual's immune system tends to express itself. Some people have an immune sytems that responds too strong, while others respond too weak. Someone who already responds too strong should not have their immnune system 'boosted' for example.

Base on our online assessment you many fall under one of 3 immunotypes, each with a different set of recommenedations:

  • Immuno-Balanced: Individuals with healthy, balanced immune response.
  • Immuno-Overactive: Individuals characterized by chronic inflammation, autoimumune conditions, or allergic reactions due to a heightened immune response.
  • Immuno-Depressed: Individuals characterized by an inability to respond to immune threats due to a a suppressed or diminished immune response.
COVID-19 Symptom Control

Beyond pre-symptomatic and mildly symptomatic stages, some individuals succumb to more severe symptoms reminiscent of other lung pathogens such as chemical agents, avian flu (H5N1), or SARS-Cov, which is highly lethal due to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)1.

Based on current evidence, one of the most detrimental aspects of COVID-19 is the propensity to cause ARDS. ARDS is due in part to viral activation of an inflammatory pathway called the NLRP3 inflammasome2, causing release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Cytokines are chemical communication signals sent by immune cells when they attack a pathogen, including a virus, contributing to the severe symptoms associated with COVID-193.

Cytokine signals initiate inflammation to increase blood flow to the infected area and call out other immune cells to help in the defense. Early in the infection stage, this is a good thing, and should not be suppressed. However, if the virus is able to proliferate and attack in greater numbers, the immune cells which come to attack them may also cause peripheral damage to delicate lung tissues in the areas of attack. This creates much more cellular damage, resulting in more cytokine production, leading to an inflammation storm (aka cytokine storm) which can be very dangerous in later stages, and is a hallmark of ARDS.

Managing the inflammation response later in the infection may provide benefits in reducing the severity of the symptoms, which was found for common influenza A viruses4.

How to Use This Guide
  1. Take our online assessment if you haven't already to determine your immunotype
  2. Review the Nutrient Recommendations table based on your immunotype, and check if you are already taking of these nutrients in a hight-quality supplement. Notate which stages of COVID-19 progression your current supplements support, and which ones are missing.
  3. Review the Nutrient Details under each nutrient in the Nutrient Recommendations table to learn more details about specific nutrients needed.
  4. Review the Lifestyle Recommendations table and detailed information sections and check which you are already incorporating, and which ones you should add.
  5. Select at least one method to improve immunity for each of the 5 stages of COVID-19 progression.
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Nutrient Recommendations
to help you stay healthy
Lifestyle Recommendations
Eat, sleep, move