Ricerc@Sapienza

Foods, food ingredients, and their balanced consumption are recognized to have an
important role in achieving or maintaining a state of wellbeing by acting as carriers of functional
components and bioactive molecules. However, the potential contribution of foods to consumers’
health has so far only been partially exploited. The rapidly evolving scenario of the coronavirus
disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is stimulating profound reflection on the relationships between
food and the etiological agent, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
Here, the status of knowledge regarding food as a possible defense/co-therapeutic strategy against
the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is considered through the discussion of two main current lines of
research. One line of research relates to the role of micronutrients, food components, and diets in
the strengthening of the immune system through clinical trials; formulations could be developed
as immune system enhancers or as co-adjuvants in therapies. The other line of research relates
to investigation of the chemical interactions that specific food compounds can have with host or
virus targets so as to interfere with the viral infective cycle of SARS-CoV-2. This line requires, as a
first step, an in silico evaluation to discover lead compounds, which may be further developed
through drug-design studies, in vitro and in vivo tests, and, finally, clinical trials to obtain therapeutic
molecules. All of these promising strategies promote the role of food in preventive/co-therapeutic
strategies to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.