Those who smoke and consume vegetarian food were found to have lower seropositivity representing that they may be at a lesser risk of getting infected by COVID-19, according to pan-India serosurvey showed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
CSIR conducted the survey around 40 institutes. It further stated people with blood type ‘O’ are less vulnerable to the COVID. On the other side, ‘B’ and ‘AB’ are at higher risk of contracting the infection. For the study, CSIR collected samples from 10,427 individuals working in its labs and their family members who voluntarily participated in the survey.
The CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi, study said that of the 10,427 individuals, 1,058 (10.14 per cent) had antibodies against the contagion. This is contrasted to earlier studies that have claimed smokers are at a higher risk of developing serious symptoms of COVID. Now, the new survey suggested that smoking may be protective against Covid-19 even though it is a respiratory infection.
According to the research paper, “The study found that higher seropositivity was found for those using public transport and with occupational responsibilities such as security, housekeeping personnel, non-smokers, and non-vegetarians.” The paper further stated, “Use of private transport, lower-exposure occupations, smoking, vegetarianism, and ‘A’ or ‘O’ blood groups appeared to be protective, using seropositivity as a surrogate for infection.”
The paper also names two studies from France and parallel reports from China, Italy and New York which witnessed lower infection rates among smokers.