Basic Principles of Nutrition, HIV and AIDS: Making Improvements in Diet to Enhance Health

The relationships among nutritional status, infectious diseases and immune system suggest nutrition as a cofactor in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) progression. Poor nutritional status and HIV infection interact with each other leading to the development of opportunistic infections, malignancies, debilitation and death. Infection by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is characterized by progressive destruction of immune system. Malnutrition that is multifactorial is, therefore, one of the major complications of HIV infection that is poorly addressed in HIV intervention. Early nutritional intervention when individuals living with HIV show active weight loss is important in maximizing gain of lean body mass. Since malnutrition is the major complication of HIV infection, which results in wasting syndrome, it should be termed as a prognostic factor in advanced HIV infection though malnutrition is a result of not only HIV infection but also numerous HIV-associated complications. Studies have recommended clinical trials to evaluate prevalence of malnutrition among those living with HIV so as to examine the efficacy of supplementing with specific nutrients at various stages of HIV infection as well as combining therapeutic foods for treating malnutrition with antiretroviral treatment in children of HIV-positive mothers. Therefore, good nutrition guarantees excellent health in HIV infection.