As a rule, it's usually best to obtain nutrients from food

What About Supplements?

As a rule, it's usually best to obtain nutrients from food. Swallowing handfuls of pills will not make up for a poor diet. But even HIV positive people who eat well can have low levels of various important nutrients -- at a time when their nutritional needs may be increased -- and thus may benefit from supplementation. The U.S. government's Daily Values (formerly known as Recommended Dietary Allowances) for nutrients do not necessarily reflect the amount required for optimal health, just the minimum needed to stave off deficiency symptoms in the average healthy person. It is not yet known whether accepted recommended nutrient levels for the general population are adequate for people with HIV/AIDS.

Dietary supplements are products such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbs, and antioxidants; they are usually taken orally in the form of tablets, capsules, powders, or liquids. Due to the lack of strict quality control and labeling requirements, marketed products can vary widely in contents, strength, and purity. Although regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), supplements do not need to undergo rigorous clinical trials of safety and efficacy as required for approval of pharmaceutical drugs. In fact -- because there is little financial incentive to spend money developing products that cannot be patented -- there have been few rigorous, controlled studies on the use of nutritional supplements in people with HIV.

In the mid-1980s, Barbara Abrams, DrPH, and colleagues from the University of California at Berkeley began a large observational study of dietary intake in 296 HIV positive men; results were reported in the August 1993 issue of JAIDS. By one measure, the risk of developing AIDS decreased as consumption of 11 different micronutrients increased -- significantly so for riboflavin, vitamin E, and iron, and approaching significance for thiamin, niacin, and vitamin C. This study was susceptible to selection bias, however, since people who ate healthier diets or took supplements might have had healthier lifestyles overall.