What is Long COVID fatigue?

There is a paradox that is hard to explain in Long COVID: even when clinical parameters are perfectly normal, patients’ conditions can be so disabling as to make normal daily activities impossible, such as playing sports, working and even walking. Other people, on the other hand, report a condition defined as Mild Long COVID. The most frequent symptom is always exhaustion, that severe physical tiredness which in medical terms is called asthenia or fatigue. It is estimated that 66-87% of people who have had mild-to-moderate COVID do not return to their previous state of health.

How can Long COVID symptoms be counteracted?

To date, the management of fatigue has no clear guidelines: it ranges from simple behavioral advice to hypotheses of more invasive interventions. One of the avenues being explored is nutraceuticalNutraceutical is a syncratic neologism from "nutrition" and "pharmaceutical" coined by Stephen de Felice in 1989. Nutraceuticals are those nutrients contained in foods that have beneficial effects on health, their effectiveness has been proven by clinical trials. supplementation, and it is precisely in this area that at the ASST-FBF-Sacco Hospital in Milan a study has begun to test the efficacy of CellFasting, a supplement of the precursors of glutathione, resveratrolActive ingredient of natural origin with recognized antioxidant capacity (stilbene polyphenol). It is found in plants such as vines and in fruits such as cocoa and blackberries. and NAD+ developed by SoLongevity research (patented formula GluReNAD, read more here).

CellFasting – antioxidant and energizing

It is estimated that 66-87% of people who have had mild-to-moderate COVID do not return to their previous state of health

What does the clinical study by SoLongevity and Sacco Hospital in Milan involve?

The randomized, double-blind SFATICOVID clinical study (“Study on the relief of Fatigue Associated To Incompletely healed COVID-19”) has just completed the enrollment of 154 patients over 18 years of age, with a documented previous COVID-19 infection and with symptoms of asthenia lasting more than 90 days, followed at the ARCOVID outpatient clinic of the hospital’s Department of Infectious Diseases. According to the protocol, half of them will receive CellFasting and the other half a placebo for 8 weeks.

“The aim of the study is to understand whether supplementation can act above all on the dimension of exhaustion, which emerges as the predominant symptom,” explains Guido Cornettone, Co-founder of SoLongevity: “The research stems from an intuition of ours, linked precisely to the difficulty of defining Long COVID, since this condition can present symptoms of illness within a normal clinical picture. A situation that is in some ways similar to chronic fatigue syndrome.”

What is the rationale for the study?

Although physiological parameters are normal, people affected by Long COVID often experience exhaustion so severe that it prevents normal activities

It is hypothesized that fatigue is underpinned by an imbalance of the redox state, with consequences for the capacity to produce ATPAdenosine triphosphate (ATP) can be defined as the "energy currency" of the cell, the instrument through which the cell carries out processes that require energy (endoergonic) and is produced by reactions that release energy (exergonic)., the so-called “energy” molecule, which is fundamental for all the energy reactions of cells. This imbalance can generate a state of chronic inflammation and neuroinflammation that may explain the neurological symptoms of Long COVID. As shown by a previous study published in Nutrients, CellFasting is able to exert a strong antioxidant activity and to generate ATP. Preliminary results from other observational studies in Long COVID patients have also suggested considerable efficacy of CellFasting against the most common symptoms, including fatigue, brain fog and sleep disturbances.

The SFATICOVID clinical study will verify whether supplementation with CellFasting is able to restore the redox balance, acting on the inflammatory state and reducing the exhaustion typical of Long COVID

What tests will the assessment be based on?

At the beginning and end of the 8 weeks of treatment, an assessment of the patients’ redox state will be carried out at the outpatient clinic and some specific functional parameters will be measured. The tests will be performed through the SoLongevity prevention services platform (already used in some pharmacies in Milan). Validated psychometric questionnaires will also be administered, while parameters such as sleep quality, heart rate, oxygen saturation, basal temperature and perceived stress will be monitored via Fitbit. Cognitive performance will also be assessed, particularly in relation to memory. “We want to test,” concludes Cornettone, “the efficacy of CellFasting both for cognitive recovery and on the perception of fatigue.”