Vitamin D fights HIV

from Foodconsumer.org - Click here for original article

Taking high doses of vitamin D may slow the disease progression and reduce the risk of death in people with HIV, a new study published in the Jan 2010 issue of Public Library of Science suggests.

The study led by Mehta S at Harvard School of Public Health showed HIV carriers with high serum vitamin D levels were at low risk of disease progression, mortality and severe anemia.

Vitamin D has been known to be involved in the immune system. In the study, the researchers wanted to know if vitamin D plays a role in slowing HIV disease progression and preventing mortality.

Mehta et al. analyzed data on 884 HIV-infected pregnant women who were enrolled in a trial of multivitamin supplementation in Tanzania. The subjects were followed up for an average of 69 months.

Those who had lower than 32 ng/mL of serum vitamin D were 25 percent more likely to experience disease progression to WHO HIV disease stage III or greater, compared to those who had high levels.

Women with low vitamin D were also 47 percent more likely to develop severe anemia during the follow-up compared to those with adequate vitamin D levels.

Vitamin D did not seem to have an association with T-cell counts, but women in the highest vitamin D quintile had a 42 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to those in the lowest quintile.

The researchers suggested that if confirmed in randomized trials, vitamin D supplementation could represent a simple and inexpensive method to slow the disease progression and reduce risk of severe anemia and death.

Studies have revealed that HIV carriers are often vitamin D deficient.