Living with HIV
- Nutrition Matters
Living with HIV makes it more
important than ever to stay focused on keeping your body healthy. Research
has shown that a good diet can help your body fight the progress of HIV as
well as improve how you feel day by day. For HIV-infected people, eating
the right types of foods is a vital part of treatment. Nutrients in food
provide energy needed by all parts of the body, including the immune
system. Proper nutrition can help prevent weight loss, wasting, and
lipodystrophy which is a serious side affect of anti-HIV therapy.
No matter what foods you eat, they are converted into sugars, fats or
proteins while traveling down the digestive tract. Sugars are burned
(metabolized) by the body first while fats are burned once sugar levels
run low. Excess fat is stored if it is not burned for energy. Protein is
used to help build cells, repair damage to tissues, and build muscle mass.
Many people with HIV do not metabolize these nutrients correctly.
In
wasting syndrome, protein is often metabolized first by the body,
resulting in decreased muscle mass. Luckily, anti-HIV medications have
helped to control this in many people. But anti-HIV drugs seem to cause
their own problems. Many people taking anti-HIV drugs are seeing the
levels of fats and sugars in their blood increase, sometimes to serious
levels. Some also have lipodystropy and are seeing the amount of fat in
their face and legs shrink, only to become bigger around the waist,
breasts and back of the neck.
Can better nutrition, when cutting down on sugars, salt and fatty foods
really make a difference? Absolutely! Several HIV clinical studies and
outcomes report the benefits associated with those patients receiving
nutrition services early in their HIV/AIDS treatment. The nutritionist
will make sure you are eating the right kinds of food as well as an
exercise program to help burn extra fat and build muscle mass.
Here is another important fact to know. When our body is fighting
infections, such as the flu, pneumonia, and especially HIV, we burn up
some protein in the course of the fight. The protein used to fight disease
includes muscle. Protein is the working stuff of the body. If our body
runs low on protein, its starts to loose working capacity, including basic
functions, such as digesting and absorbing food, and fighting germs. These
all start to deteriorate. New York nutrition researcher, Dr. Donald Kotler
MD states the timing of death from AIDS is closely related to the point
where the body has used up over 45% of its muscle mass. Studies also show
that people with HIV- positive disease start losing protein and muscle
before they get AIDS or any major infections and while their T-cell counts
are still in the 600s.
Restoring loss muscle mass by rebuilding body muscle
 with good nutrition
and exercise will also restore energy levels. Toning and re- building body
muscle with resistance exercise is ideal. Nautilus, free weight workouts,
swimming, jumping jacks, push-ups, chin-ups, and calisthenics using hand
weights are good activities. Strolling home with grocery bags or using
juice or fruit cans from the pantry as hand weights will also provide
excellent upper body conditioning.
Together, the nutritionist and patient can work together to develop an
individualized menu plan which promotes eating the right kinds of food as
well as an exercise program to help reduce body fat and build muscle mass.
Resources for more information about nutrition and HIV:
 print
this page
www.doh.state.fl.us
Palm Beach County:
Florenzia Davis, PhD,MS,RD,LD/N
Senior Public Health Nutritionist
(561) 671-4000 x 4048
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