Looking at dietary effects on weight loss and diarrhea in HIV seropositive patients: a pilot project

This was a pilot study and therefore only gives us information as to the direction that we can continue looking towards. There were two factors that could have skewed the results. One is the small size of the sample group and the other is that in the Nutritionist III program, not every nutrient, especially in the case of a trace mineral such as selenium, is listed in all foods. Further research is certainly warranted in this area to advance the study of the long term effects of a nutritional intervention on long-term survival of HIV/AIDS persons. A theory was published by the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (Aug. 1994) that the HIV virus slowly depletes the body of the trace mineral selenium, which it uses to erupt into uninfected cells. The theory proposes that the HIV virus needs selenium, which preserves the elasticity of body tissue and slows the aging process, to trigger its growth. Once the virus uses up all the selenium in one cell, then it breaks out in search of more, spreading the infection to new cells. The researchers at the University of Georgia suggested that the latency period may be attributed to the period of time it takes to deplete the body of selenium storage. (NY Times, Aug. 20, 1994)