Vitamins and HIV / AIDS

Vitamins and HIV / AIDS treatments should go hand in hand — in fact, a solid nutritional plan that ensures all of the essential nutrients are present in the right amounts can help people with HIV:

fight disease more effectively, by strengthening the immune system
deal with the effects of weight loss and forms of malnutrition that are commonly experienced by HIV positive people
process many of the medications they are taking
deal with symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea, fatigue and others
balance out unhealthy levels in blood sugar and cholesterol

We want to be very clear on this point: vitamins will not cure HIV / AIDS; vitamins will not reverse HIV or stop it in its tracks.

There is no vitamin or medication that will strengthen the compromised immune system to effect a cure for HIV / AIDS.

Unfortunately, when it was first discovered that HIV and AIDS were related to the immune system, many people were led to believe that immune boosting concoctions of all sorts, including vitamin compounds, could prevent them from getting the disease or cure it if they did get it.

This quackery was eventually snubbed out by governments, but not nearly fast enough or completely enough for many people.

What vitamins can do, as part of an overall optimized nutritional plan that addresses some of the nutritional health effects of HIV and related diseases and combined with increasingly effective HIV medication, is help improve the quality of life of HIV-positve people.

For people living with HIV / AIDS, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, certain B-group vitamins and minerals such as selenium, zinc and iron are especially important.

As always, it is preferable to try to get all essential nutrients from our food, but this is especially difficult for people with HIV / AIDS, primarily because a number of factors combine to reduce food intake and reduce nutrient absorption by the body.

Supplementing vitamins, minerals and other nutrients should be done in consultation with a qualified health care provider.

At the present time, there is no known cure HIV. However, thanks to the introduction of new and more sophisticated drugs the severity of symptoms can be reduced and the progression to full blown AIDS can be slowed significantly.

In the meantime, the quality of life of people living with HIV / AIDS can be improved with proper medication, exercise and and a comprehensive nutritional plan that meets all of the person's requirements for all nutrients, including minerals and vitamins.