treatment for HIV/AIDS

he trace element selenium -- also known to play a role in proper immune function -- has received considerable attention as a treatment for HIV/AIDS and a variety of other diseases. Some in vitro research indicates that HIV requires selenium in order to replicate. A study of 125 HIV positive injection drug users by Marianna Baum, PhD, and colleagues from the University of Miami (published in 1997) revealed that after adjusting for various factors including CD4 cell count, selenium deficiency was significantly associated with increased mortality. "When all nutrient factors that are associated with survival are considered together," Baum concluded in a later review article, "only selenium deficiency is a significant predictor of mortality." And in a study of 670 HIV positive pregnant women in Tanzania (reported in the June 1, 2005 issue of JAIDS), Roland Kupka, DSc, from Harvard School of Public Health and colleagues found that low plasma selenium levels were associated with increased risk of miscarriage, infant death, and mother-to-child HIV transmission.

But the fact that low selenium levels are linked to worse disease progression does not necessarily mean supplementation will improve matters. HIV nutrition expert Mary Romeyn, MD, has reported anecdotal evidence that selenium supplementation leads to clearance of thrush. On the other hand, while low selenium levels were linked to increased likelihood of cervical dysplasia (precancerous cell changes) among HIV positive women in one study, selenium supplements did not reduce the risk.