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Researchers at the USDA/ARS
Children’s Nutrition Center at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s
Hospital reported that HIV-infected children from homes where nutritious food
was not always available (food insecurity) had a poorer outcome than those from
homes where food was always secure. According to Dr. Jason Mendoza, assistant
professor of pediatrics—nutrition at Baylor College of Medicine and first
author of the study, food insecurity causes families to eat less, skip meals,
and redirect time and resources to obtaining food.
Participants in the study or their
parents completed demographic and food insecurity questionnaires. The
researchers reviewed participants’ medical records to measure CD4 white blood
cells, the type of cells that fight infection but are destroyed by the HIV
virus, as a lower number of CD4 cells means a worse clinical outcome.
Researchers also assessed HIV viral load. Participants were divided into two
groups, food secure and food insecure, based on the results of the survey.
Findings indicated that the food insecure group had lower CD4 counts and higher
chances of incomplete viral suppression.
The researchers proposed several
reasons why individuals who are food insecure have worse CD4 counts and higher
chances of incomplete viral suppression. They plan to further investigate the
relationship between food insecurity and HIV outcomes with a larger pediatric
HIV-positive sample in the United States, to see if the relationship continues
after six, 12, and 18 months. Also, Mendoza and colleagues are studying the
pediatric HIV population at the Botswana-Baylor Children’s Clinical Center of
Excellence to examine correlations between food insecurity and HIV status.
The study, “Food Insecurity, CD4
Counts, and Incomplete Viral Suppression Among HIV+ Patients from Texas
Children’s Hospital: A Pilot Study,” was published in the journal AIDS and Behavior
(2013; doi: 10.1007/s10461-013-0419-y).
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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