There have been tales enough to rival the Grimm Brothers about positive cases of Covid. Relatives, neighbours, work colleagues, friends of friends, those who’ve been hospitalised, those who’ve died, those who didn’t even notice they’d had it. And yet with all this wealth of shared experience, none of it seems to add up. Why the forty-year-old fitness fanatic with no pre-existing health concerns passed away whilst the ninety-year old care home resident recovered within a matter of weeks. It’s a country mile from fair that depending on who you are, Covid can be life-threatening, temporarily debilitating, an annoying cough or for the very fortunate, entirely symptom free.

Then for others, it presents as something they just can’t kick, a physiological enigma that the medical community increasingly refer to as Long Covid. Even the name doesn’t give much away but Long Covid is a condition when the Coronavirus infection has retreated but symptoms keep recurring weeks, sometimes months later, presenting their ugly head as coughing, shortness of breath, difficulty sleeping, brain fog and anxiety.

“It’s not entirely clear how many Covid cases go on to develop Long Covid, but estimates put it between 10 and 30%,” says Prof. Paul Clayton PhD, Clinical Pharmacologist . “Long Covid has little to do with the severity of the initial infection, and it’s understood around 90% of Long Covid cases previously had mild or asymptomatic infection. Many of them are young and had no pre-existing conditions,” he explains.

The legacy of uncertainty and unease that Covid is leaving might not have us locked in our houses as before but it does force us to take a long look at what we can to safeguard our future selves. By getting our immune systems in peak condition, the body is far better positioned to combat the recurrence of such symptoms and could potentially ward off the chances of developing Long Covid altogether.

Prof. Paul Clayton is a world-class scientist who spearheads such an approach. He has dedicated the past fifty years to nutritional research in the bid to form robust, evidence-based solutions that are proven to optimise brain and bodily health. He suggests that although we may not know the specifics of what we’re up against, proven patented nutraceuticals could well be the solution to easing the symptoms of Long Covid. After all, reducing inflammation, reinforcing the immune system and improving cognition function were the zenith of wellbeing, long before we uttered the word Covid. The virus may be relatively new but the health-galvanising powers of ingredients like Ashwagandha, Turmeric and Saffron are ancient.

The patented ingredients in LYMA’s peer-reviewed supplement formula have all been proved to treat the exact same symptoms that make up Long Covid. “Although the absence of any obvious underlying disease mechanism makes it impossible to identify or recommend any specific treatment, we do know that some Long Covid cases have responded extremely well to LYMA,” Clayton goes on to explain.

We asked Prof. Clayton to offer his scientific perspective at the proven patented nutraceuticals within LYMA and how they might be used to prevent Long Covid:

Our Wellmune® Blend, 250mg. This 1-3, 1-6 beta glucan is a well-known immune-modulator, and enhances innate immune cellular function. This raises immunity to infection and reduces allergy symptoms. It effects an immunological normalization; these compounds were previously naturally occurring in the food chain and were removed after 1950. As immunological dysregulation is considered to play a part in a sub-set of Long Covid cases, the Wellmune® Blend is probably acting here.

HydroCurc, 600mg. A polyphenol with very high bioavailability, this is a potent anti-inflammatory agent with multiple health benefits which are present in many members of this class, but to a higher degree due to its ability to achieve high levels in the body. HydroCurc, like many polyphenols, also stabilizes and improves capillary blood flow. In Long Covid cases with a significant inflammatory and/or vascular component, HydroCurc will be helpful.

Affron 28mg. This standardized saffron extract has well-documented anxiolytic and anti-depressant properties, which may be particularly helpful in Long Covid cases where those symptoms predominate. However, it is also documented to improve resilience, via a novel mechanism in the hippocampal VTA. This involves up-regulating the production of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, and this in turn enhances neurogenesis. Mood, energy and cognition all interact here.

KSM66- Ashwagandha, 600mg. This is a xeno-hormetic (a member of a category of herbal extracts formerly known as adaptogens), which is an anti-stressor. It complements the actions of Affron, and those of our Wellmune® Blend also; stress is a well-known immune-suppressant.