On Jun. 1, 2022, the U.S. National Institutes of Health announced that an NIH funded study had found that people with food allergies were less likely to become infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, than people without them.

In addition, while previous research identified obesity as a risk factor for severe COVID-19, the new study has identified obesity and high body mass index (BMI) as associated with increased risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection. In contrast, the study determined that asthma does not increase risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection.