AIDS and HIV Therapy: Nutritional Supplements Can Help Patients Gain Weight, Raise CD4 Counts

Researchers in Spain have reported that nutritional supplements enriched with peptides and some fatty acids are helping HIV patients gain weight and improve immune function.

A formula with high levels of n-3 fatty acids reversed HIV- related weight loss and significantly increased CD4 cell levels, according to Dr. D.A. de Luis Roman and colleagues at Rio Hortega University Hospital in Valladolid. Through a randomized study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition ("Nutritional Treatment for Acquired Immunodeficiency Virus Infection Using an Enterotropic Peptide-based Formula Enriched with n-3 Fatty Acids: A Randomized Prospective Trial," 2001;55;12:1048-1052) the researchers compared the benefits provided by standard enteral nutritional formulas with those of an enterotropic, peptide-based formula enriched with n-3 fatty acids. The fatty acids are known to improve coronary function and are thought to improve cognitive development as well.

Both standard and enriched supplements produced significant weight gains of roughly 3 percent, mostly in the form of increased fat mass. However, the peptide-based formula also produced a significant and persistent increase in CD4 cell counts, which did not occur with the conventional formula.

Patients who received the enriched formula were also less likely to contract infections requiring hospitalization, although the difference between the groups was not statistically significant.

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