Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: Physiology and Health
Session: 4
Room: Exhibit Hall
Tykia Swint - Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
Co-Author(s): Daniel Osborne, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, FL; Richard A. Alo, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, FL; Pierre Ngnepiepa, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, FL; Richard Long, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, FL; Lekan Latinwo, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, FL; Clement G. Yedjou, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, FL
Consumption of Vegetables to combat COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019Tykia Swint, Daniel Osborne, Richard A. Alo, Pierre Ngnepiepa, Richard Long, Lekan Latinwo, Clement G. Yedjou1. Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science and Technology, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, 1610 S. Martin Luther King Blvd, Tallahassee, FL 32307, USA2. Department of Computer Science, College of Science and Technology, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, 1610 S. Martin Luther King Blvd, Tallahassee, FL 32307, USA3. Department of Mathematics, College of Science and Technology, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, 1610 S. Martin Luther King Blvd, Tallahassee, FL 32307, USAAbstract: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease has since spread worldwide, leading to an ongoing pandemic. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the emergency use of Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on December 12, 2020. However, there are many vaccinated patients who are infected with COVID-19. Therefore, people all over the world have an increased interest in consuming more vegetables for the purpose of maintaining their health and boosting their immune system. Identifying novel antiviral agents for COVID-19 is of critical importance, and vegetables are an excellent source for drug discovery and therapeutic development. The objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that a high intake of vegetables prevents COVID-19 incidence and reduces the mortality rate. To achieve this objective, we collected the diet data of COVID-19 from Kaggle (https://www.kaggle.com/mariaren/covid19-healthy-diet-dataset), and used a machine-learning algorithm to examine the effects of different food types on COVID-19 incidences and deaths. Specifically, we used the feature selection method to identify the factors (e.g., diet-related factors) that contribute to COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. Data generated from the study demonstrated that vegetables intake can help to combat the SARS-CoV-2. Taken together, vegetables may be potential chemopreventive agents for COVID-19 due to their antiviral properties and their ability to boost the human body immune system.Keywords: COVID-19; incidence rate; death rate; vegetables; chemopreventive agentsAcknowledgments: This work was financially supported in part by the National Science Foundation, NSF-HRD, Grant # 1201981 through the FGLSAMP at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, FL, United States and in part by the Faculty Research Award Program (FRAP) at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, FL, United States.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): This work was financially supported in part by the National Science Foundation, NSF-HRD, Grant # 1201981 through the FGLSAMP at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, FL, United States and in part by the Faculty Research Award Program (FRAP) at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, FL, United States.
Faculty Advisor: Clement Yedjou, clement.yedjou@famu.edu
Role: I collected the diet data of COVID-19 from Kaggle (https://www.kaggle.com/mariaren/covid19-healthy-diet-dataset), and used a machine-learning algorithm to examine the effects of different food types on COVID-19 incidences and deaths.