Multivitamins May Help Delay the Progression of HIV Disease

Do HIV-infected people benefit from nutritional supplements? Studies in the past have suggested that even well-fed people infected with HIV may not properly process nutrients in food.

A new research from Africa suggests that basic multivitamin and selenium supplements might greatly lower the risk that untreated people with the AIDS virus. The researchers are not clear on how patients who take the vitamins and mineral might fare over longer periods.

According to Dr. Jared Baeten, an associate professor of global health at the University of Washington, the research is incredibly useful to find new strategies to delay the progression of HIV disease.  The treatment is inexpensive in comparison to anti-retroviral therapy and can fill an important role.

The research began with researchers figuring out whether the immune system would get a boost if patients who hadn't yet begun anti-retroviral treatment took nutritional supplements. The researchers divided nearly 900 HIV-infected patients in the African country of Botswana into several groups. One of the groups that took the combination of multivitamin and selenium had a noticeable effect.

The study was published in Journal of the American Medical Association.

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