AIDS supplements vitamins herbs, alternative treatment  and natural remedy with herbal therapy

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April 10 2016 by Ray Sahelian, M.D.
 

AIDS is caused by the HIV virus. This infectious disease was only identified 25 years ago. The virus now infects 40 million people around the world and has killed 25 million. Spread via blood, sexual contact and from mother to child during birth or breast-feeding, AIDS has no cure and there is no good vaccine, although drug cocktails can help control it.
     More than a quarter of people infected with the AIDS virus are now dying of other causes. An analysis of 68,669 New York City residents infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, found that of those who died between 1999 and 2004, 26 percent died of something other than HIV. That is a 32 percent increase from 1999, when just under 20 percent of HIV patients died of other causes. Cocktails of drugs that suppress the virus have been credited with allowing HIV patients to lead near-normal lives, and once- or twice-a-day dosing now makes them more manageable. Nonetheless, AIDS remains incurable and is always fatal in places where the drugs are not available -- notably much of Africa.

AIDS vitamin, supplement
There is no vitamin supplement that cures AIDS, however some vitamin supplements may be helpful for AIDS patients in terms of maintaining as good an immune system as possible and to support overall energy and vitality. It may be a good idea to try a multivitamin supplement.
 

Is there a vitamin as an AIDS cure?
   I am not aware of a vitamin that offers an AIDS cure or an effective treatment for AIDS. However, taking a multivitamin may help with energy levels and wellbeing in some patients with AIDS.

Supplements for AIDS natural treatment
I am not aware of human studies that have shown any supplements to cure this condition. However, there may be some supplements that could help overall health in those with AIDS.

Antioxidant -- There is evidence suggesting that patients with AIDS are under chronic oxidative stress. People infected with HIV may benefit from antioxidant vitamins.

Colostrum may reduce the severity of diarrhea in patients with AIDS

Glutamine amino acid, could be helpful for those on medications to treat AIDS. Glutamine supplementation can increase body weight, body cell mass, and intracellular water when compared with placebo in AIDS patients.
 

Vitamin D is of benefit
AIDS. 2014 Nov 28. Vitamin D supplementation is associated with reduced immune activation levels in HIV-1-infected patients on suppressive antiretroviral therapy. The present data support the rationale of vitamin D supplementation in the routine clinical management of HIV-1-infected patients, in order to decrease immune activation levels and possibly improve long-term survival.

Carotenoids for AIDS infection
A community randomized controlled clinical trial of mixed carotenoids and micronutrient supplementation of patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
Eur J Clin Nutr. 2006. Cartenoids Study Group.
This clinical trial aims to evaluate if natural mixed carotenoids supplementation can improve the health and survival of AIDS patients. Three hundred and thirty-one adults with advanced AIDS on conventional management were recruited during routine clinic visits. All participants, including 166 controls, received daily oral specially formulated multivitamins including vitamin A and trace elements; 165 treatment group participants received additional daily oral natural mixed carotenoids, equivalent to 120,000 IU (72 mg) of beta-carotene daily. Low serum carotene concentration is common in AIDS patients and predicts death. Supplementation with vitamins, micronutrients and natural mixed carotenoids may improve survival by correction of a micronutrient deficiency.

Can the supplements AHCC help as a treatment?
   I have not seen any human studies regarding the use of AHCC as an AIDS treatment.

Herb for AIDS treatment naturally
I am not aware of any herbs that have been tested for any good length of time in AIDS patients and have offered a cure or significant help. I would not be surprised that someday research may discover certain herbs that have significant clinical usefulness in AIDS treatment. There have been some herbs tested in the lab or animals that have shown some promise.

Green tea extract has epigallocatechin-3-gallate, which has antiviral activity. To determine the effects of EGCG on AIDS  infection, peripheral blood lymphocytes infected with HIV were incubated with increasing concentrations of EGCG. EGCG strongly inhibited the replication of the HIV virus.
Hyssop herb has antiviral activity against herpes simplex and HIV-1.
Licorice may be helpful.
Mangosteen herb
Olive leaf extract has anti-HIV activity

Can the herb mangosteen help with the AIDS virus?
   Lab studies show some early promise but I have not seen any human studies with mangosteen as a treatment.

Herpes and AIDS virus
Treating genital herpes infections does not protect people from the AIDS virus.

Virus Hides in GI System

AIDS virus hides out inside people's intestines. The virus replicates in the lining of the gut and does much of its damage to the immune system there. This may be why the drug cocktails taken by HIV patients so often fail to work completely. After the AIDS virus infection massive destruction of immune cells occurs. Gut-associated lymphoid tissue accounts for 70 percent of the body's immune system. Restoring its function is crucial to ridding the body of the virus.

AIDS virus transmission by mother to infant
The AIDS virus can be passed from an infected mother to her baby if she pre-chews the child's food as sometimes occurs in developing countries.

Origin
The AIDS virus originated in wild apes in Cameroon and then spread in humans across Africa and eventually the world. Humans somehow caught the deadly human immunodeficiency virus from chimpanzees, perhaps by killing and eating them. Studies have traced HIV to a man who gave a blood sample in 1959 in Kinshasa, then called Leopoldville. Later analysis found the AIDS virus. In people, HIV leads to AIDS but chimps have a version called simian immune deficiency virus that causes them no harm. Humans are the only animals naturally susceptible to HIV.

A woman from Cameroon has been found to be infected with an AIDS-like virus that came from gorillas. The woman, who has no symptoms of HIV infection, is well and was likely infected by another person, not an animal. This suggests a newly discovered gorilla virus is circulating among people. Nature Medicine, advance online publication August 2, 2009.

AIDS deaths worldwide
in 2007, AIDS deaths totaled 2.1 million worldwide. HIV / AIDS infection rates are growing among intravenous drug users, prostitutes and gay men around the globe but they are often viewed as outcasts and refused treatment.

AIDS in American Women
As of 2004, 25 percent of new AIDS cases in the United States were in women -- and women of color, especially African American women, made up the majority of these new cases. In the early days of the AIDS pandemic, fewer women were infected with HIV. As of 2005, 46 percent of adults living with HIV / AIDS throughout the world were women. According to the World Health Organization's UNAIDS, the "vase majority" of women become infected through heterosexual intercourse. HIV infection is also different in women than in men - women become infected more easily and develop different types of complications, such as recurrent vaginal infections, Dr. Fauci explained. Women also tend to seek treatment at a later stage of infection and experience disease progression when they have lower levels of virus than their male counterparts. In addition, drug metabolism is different in women, which may affect how they respond to HIV antiretroviral drugs.

AIDS in China
A poverty-stricken area of China may have hundreds of thousands of villagers with HIV / AIDS. International groups estimated that a botched blood-selling scheme in the 1990s had infected a million villagers with HIV in the impoverished central province of Henan, where the municipality of Zhu Madian was worst hit. They were infected because of poverty and lack of proper transfusion procedures at that time.
 

AIDS in India

An HIV / AIDS epidemic may kill 11 million people in India over the next 20 years.

AIDS in Africa
Some 9 million children in Africa have lost a mother to AIDS, British charity Save the Children reported in March, 2006, calling on donors to sharply increase aid to meet their needs. The charity said in a report that a lack of testing facilities meant that many mothers, especially in the poorest countries, did not know their HIV status until they were ill and were unable to fight off even the simplest infections.

Mozambique expects to provide free anti-retroviral AIDS drugs to some 50,000 people by the end of 2006, more than twice as many as now get the life-prolonging treatment. AIDS is a major development challenge for the country where a million and a half people have HIV or AIDS. Mozambique has been hailed by international lenders as a model reformer that has grown its economy at an average rate of 7 percent to 8 percent over the past decade.

South Africa
South Africa is making progress against the world's worst AIDS epidemic, cutting the rate of new infections and extending drug delivery to those already sick. More than 5 million South Africans, or one in nine of the population, are estimated to be infected with HIV, giving it the highest caseload in the world.

AIDS Drugs

In 2006, FDA announced the tentative approval of generic abacavir sulfate tablets manufactured by Aurobindo Pharma LTD. of Hyderabad, India. Abacavir sulfate tablets are the first generic version of the already approved Ziagen Tablets, an anti-HIV medication manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline.