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According to a report published in
the October 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, taking
high doses of multivitamin supplements did not lessen the risk of HIV disease
progression or fatalities for Tanzanian patients receiving standard medications
for suppressing the virus. The daily supplements appeared to be linked to
potentially harmful increased levels of a particular liver enzyme. Over the
past 15 years, the combination of medications known as highly active
antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, has greatly decreased HIV-related disease and
fatalities. Previous studies have also shown that high doses of multivitamins
may reduce HIV-related illness and death in those not receiving HAART, but the
safety and effectiveness of combining the two regimens had not been examined.
In this newly published study,
researchers compared effects of high-dose multivitamin supplementation and
standard-dose supplementation in Tanzanian HIV patients receiving HAART. The
patients received daily doses that contained either high or standard levels of
vitamin B complex, vitamin C, and vitamin E. However, the study was halted
after a median follow-up of 15 months when evidence was found that the patients
receiving high doses of supplements had unhealthily increased levels of the
liver enzyme alanine transaminase. According to the researchers, led by Sheila
Isanaka of the Harvard School of Public Health, at that point there was no
difference in disease progression or death risk between those patients
receiving standard or high doses of the multivitamin supplementation.
JAMA. 2012; 308(15):1535-1544.
Doi:10.1001/jama.2012.13083. “Effect of High-Dose vs. Standard-Dose
Multivitamin Supplementation at the Initiation of HAART on HIV Disease
Progression and Mortality in Tanzania: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” Isanaka,
S., Mugusi, F., Hawkins, C., Spiegelman, D., Okuma, J., Aboud S., Guerino, C.,
and Fawzi, W.W.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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