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Selenium, taken daily, found to keep HIV under control and boost immune system function by M.T. Whitney

(NewsTarget) HIV patients may have an effective weapon to lengthen their lives, thanks to selenium. Taking a selenium supplement daily appears to keep HIV at bay and also strengthen the immune system, according to research by the University of Miami.

In a double-blind study of 262 HIV patients divided between patients receiving the supplements and placebos, the patients who received 200 micrograms of high-selenium yeast each day fought the disease much better. When each patient was given a comprehensive medical exam at the end of the study 9 months later, the ones who took selenium daily had a lower amount of the HIV virus in their bloodstream and better immune cell counts compared to those who hadn't.

"It's no surprise that selenium is finally getting the credit it deserves as a potent antiviral mineral," said Mike Adams, author of "The Seven Laws of Nutrition."

"In fact, combined with other natural antiviral medicines, HIV can be completely controlled without medications at all," Adams said. "The people of the world have been completely hoodwinked by the pharmaceutical companies into thinking there are no natural treatments for HIV, but in fact there are dozens."

The reason selenium may help people with HIV live longer is its antioxidant properies: it may help reverse damage that the disease does to the immune system. However, that does not make it a substitute for the antiretroviral therapy medications used to fight HIV, the researchers concluded.

The increased intake of selenium, while observed in other studies as having a positive effect in lowering mortality rates for people with lung, prostate and colorectal cancer, also may increase the risk of skin cancer, some studies have found. The verdict among scientists is not complete whether selenium is useful for cancer prevention.

With these initial findings, doctors have urged that more research be done to find out whether selenium is an effective tool in slowing down the effects of HIV.

HIV is the precursor to AIDS, a terminal disease.

Beyond AIDS drugs: Nutrition needed for AIDS patients by NewsTarget

(NewsTarget) The growing impact of AIDS in Africa, Asia and Latin America has prompted the United Nations World Food Program to appeal to donor countries to fund food and nutrition for those afflicted. At the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Robin Jackson, chief of the World Food Program (WFP) HIV/AIDS Service, said, "It is time to deliver more than drugs."

Although those with HIV/AIDS often list food as one of their most desperate needs, nutritional support for HIV programs is usually not touched upon during international HIV policy debates, Jackson said, which leaves the programs seriously under-funded.

"The prioritizing of AIDS drugs over basic nutrition has been a grievous distortion that deprives AIDS victims of what they need most," says Mike Adams, a holistic nutritionist. "What good are drugs when a person is suffering multiple nutritional deficiencies that suppress immune function in the first place? These people need real nutrition, not false hope from patented synthetic chemicals."

Estimates by the WFP state that roughly 1 million of the 6.4 million people expected to enroll in 2008 antiretroviral programs will need nutritional support at a cost of approximately 65 cents a day per patient. Jackson said that when AIDS develops, nutrition and food security become important partners in treatment.

Currently, HIV patients are usually only given rations for 6 months until they can get back on their feet, but Jackson cited a recent study found that malnourished patients exposed to antiretroviral therapy are six times more likely to die than well-nourished patients; possibly because malnutrition impairs people's ability to absorb the triple-drug therapy and renders them unable to benefit from it.

Poor nutrition may also heighten susceptibility to HIV-related diseases, and an undependable food supply can increase the likelihood of individuals adopting lifestyles that often lead to infection.

Tests for HIV have become cheaper and more obtainable for governments, but this has unfortunately lead to standalone HIV testing programs that the Human Rights Watch has criticized for being coercive, discriminatory, lacking in confidentiality and deficient in prevention information.

These programs -- such as the proposal before government in Punjab, India that would require people to get tested to receive or keep a driver's license -- criminalize HIV transmission, are often applied in an arbitrary manner and are impotent to slow the spread of HIV, the Human Rights Watch said.

Sixty per cent of the estimated 5.2 million HIV-infected adults in India are living in rural areas, according to a WHO report.

Though commercial sex is the major reason behind the prevalence of the pandemic in most parts of the country, injecting drug use (IDUs), especially in north-eastern states, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, is fast emerging as a major source of transmission.

"Analysis of surveillance data by place of residence indicates that HIV has been spreading to the rural areas," the report said.

"Of the estimated 5.2 million HIV-infected adults in India, 3.05 million or nearly 60 per cent were residing in rural areas. Of the reported AIDS cases, sexual transmission accounts for 86 per cent in India," the report said.

Apart from several states recording a higher HIV prevalence among rural sentinel surveillance sites than urban sites, the dreaded disease has now started penetrating the low-risk general population, the report pointed out.

"The HIV epidemic of Manipur that was once a concentrated epidemic among IDUs, is now considered a generalised epidemic," the report said.

In 2005, seven of the 10 ante-natal clinic sentinel surveillance sites in Manipur recorded an HIV prevalence of one per cent or above indicating the spread of infection from high-risk to low-risk populations, the report said.

The report said HIV among IDUs increased markedly from seven per cent in 2002 to 23 per cent in 2005.

Increasingly, HIV infection rates are being observed among IDUs in not only the northeastern states, but other urban areas like Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, it said.