First Thing: Deficiencies (Draft)
Yes, people with HIV have been found to have deficiencies in a number of vitamins and minerals. Some deficiencies are due to the use of minerals by the virus in replication; some are due to changes which occur in the intestinal lining which make it harder to absorb nutrients from food. Protein deficiency is also common.
Yes, that means supplements!
How much? Of what? In most cases, I personally look at the maximum safe long-term dose as a guideline. Fortunately, testing of blood levels of vitamins is inexpensive and should be covered by your insurance . . . unless you’re in an HMO, as I currently am. Then, you may need to cover it out of pocket. Ask, see what happens.
Just to point out how easily mineral levels can fall, I have my very own example! When I asked my doctor to test my zinc and magnesium levels, I was already taking a multivitamin with both nutrients, and an additional supplement of each. Zinc was normal, magnesium was at the very low end of normal. With two supplement doses of magnesium daily! Where would it have been if I hadn’t been taking supplements?
Defiencies of zinc, magnesium, and selenium have been documented in most people with HIV. Zinc in particular is heavily used by the virus in replication. Does that mean you shouldn’t take it? NO!
HIV is using zinc, and is apparently more efficient at grabbing it first. That means your body isn’t getting what it needs. If your body doesn’t get the zinc it requires, your immune function is suppressed. Otherwise healthy folks — including those without HIV — will have suppressed immune function if they’re zinc-deficient.
Think of it like taking care of your boss’s two puppies. One is faster than the other, and gobbles down most of the food; the other is weak as a result of malnutrition. Your goal is to keep the slower-moving puppy healthy. Do you take away most of the food so the faster puppy won’t get as much? No, because then although the fast puppy slows down, he also eats ALL the food. Meanwhile, the slow puppy dies.
In case you weren’t following, your immune system is the slow puppy.
Instead of cutting back the food, put out more food so both puppies get enough. When it comes to nutrition, the human body is often going to get HIV’s leftovers, so make sure you lay out an all-you-can-eat buffet!
(By the way, even if you wanted to eliminate zinc from the diet, you couldn’t. It’s a mineral, so it’s in soil. That means it’s in all plant-based foods. Plant-based foods are consumed by animals, so it’s also in animal-based foods. You can’t wipe it out; your only choices are to get enough for you AND HIV, or hand it all over to HIV and do without.)
Deficiencies of B vitamins and antioxidants (A, C, E, CoQ10, N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC, an amino acid) have also been documented in folks with HIV. In the Second and Third Thing pages, I’ll go over why that matters.
