FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, October 25, 2007
NUTRIENTS BOOST NATURAL ANTI-RETROVIRAL ENZYME IN HIV-INFECTED PATIENTS(OMNS October 25, 2007) A double-blind, randomized clinical trial has shown that HIV-positive patients given supplemental nutrients can stop their decline into AIDS. Edith Namulemia, James Sparling and Harold Foster’s findings were just published in the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine. (1) The study, conducted at Mengo Hospital, Kampala, Uganda, was designed to test the impacts of two nutrient mixtures on the body’s ability to produce glutathione peroxidase and to monitor any effects of such changes on levels of CD4 T lymphocytes, body weight and quality of life.
310 patients were randomly divided into two groups, both receiving nutritional supplements for a year, one group receiving an additional seven nutrients. In both groups, serum glutathione peroxidase levels increased by 250 percent. This enzyme normally declines as HIV/AIDS progresses. CD4 cell counts, indicative of an improving immune system, also rose in both treatment groups. In addition, quality of life, as measured using the Karnofsky scale also increased over the year. Patients’ gains in glutathione peroxidase, CD4 cell counts, weight and quality of life were all highly statistically significant. Both males and females benefited to the same degree from the two nutrient combinations.
These results are consistent with those of smaller open nutritional supplement trials which have been conducted elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa. [2] It seems clear that inadequate nutrition plays an extremely important role in the progression into AIDS of HIV-infected patients. These results also are consistent with Foster’s model [3-4] of the development of AIDS which suggests that deficiencies of glutathione peroxidase play a key role in the process, which can be reversed with nutritional supplementation.
The full text of the paper may be read online at orthomolecular.org
References:
[1] Namulemia, Edith; Sparling, James; Foster, Harold D. Nutritional supplements can delay the progression of AIDS in HIV-infected patients: results from a double-blinded, clinical trial at Mengo Hospital, Kampala, Uganda. Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine 2007; 22(3), 129-136.
[2] Bradfield M, Foster HD: The successful orthomolecular treatment of AIDS: accumulating evidence from Africa. Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine 2006; 21(4):193-196.
[3] Foster, Harold D. What really causes AIDS. Trafford Publishing: Victoria, BC 2002. Full text at orthomolecular.org
[4] Foster, HD. How HIV-1 causes AIDS: Implications for prevention and treatment. Medical Hypotheses, 2004; 62(4):549-553.
Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine
Linus Pauling defined orthomolecular medicine as "the treatment of disease by the provision of the optimum molecular environment, especially the optimum concentrations of substances normally present in the human body." Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information:http://www.orthomolecular.org/12all/lt/t_go.php?i=64&e=MjcyMzU=&l=http://www.orthomolecular.org/
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Editorial Review Board:
Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D.
Harold D. Foster, Ph.D.
Bradford Weeks, M.D.
Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D.
Erik Paterson, M.D.
Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D.
Steve Hickey, Ph.D.
Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D., Editor and contact person. Email: omns@orthomolecular.org
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