Nutrition for AIDS and HIV infected patients

When one is infrected with the HIV virus they should be cautious of their nutritional intake, to help maintain health and lifespan.

There is still no cure for AIDS, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, and there is not a set diet for a person with HIV, which is the virus that causes the disease, AIDS. But good nutrition can play a part in preventing weight loss and other AIDS complications. When patients are diagnosed with HIV, Doctors will usually advise the patients while they are not ill, to seek nutritional advice from a qualified clinical dietician. This helps the patient prepare and learn about nutrition.

Maintaining a healthy diet with AIDS is complicated, due to a person with AIDS often has cases of diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, a loss of appetite either from the disease itself or the medication they take. AIDS affects the digestion system also, which makes it hard for the body to absorb essential vitamins and minerals such as folate, riboflavin, thiamine, and vitamins B6 and B12. A person with AIDS, often experiences rapid weight loss, when this happens patients have to be fed through tubes, if nutrients are not being absorbed properly doctors will often prescribe this procedure even if there is no rapid weight loss.

The HIV virus attacks the immune system this makes a person not able to defend against infections and diseases. There is a higher risk of HIV infected persons to get food poisoning from bacteria such as salmonella, shigella and campylobacter. These bacteria can cause death to HIV positive persons. Because of this people with HIV or people who prepare food for HIV patients need to pay close attention to food safety.

When preparing eggs they should be boiled at least seven minutes or until hard, fish and meats should be cooked until well done. Raw oysters and other shellfish should be avoided entirely and anything with raw eggs. Such as homemade mayonnaise and ice creams, commercial mayonnaise and hard ice cream and sherbet are safe.

Patients with the HIV virus and AIDS patients are often given multiple vitamin and mineral pills to prevent nutritional deficiencies, but supplements with mote than one percent of the Recommended Dietary Allowance should only be administered by a Doctor. Many AIDS and HIV infected people are turning to herbal medicine as a self-care approach. But many herbal medicines may cause allergies in AIDS and HIV infected persons so the herb or herb mixture must be checked with doctor before administering.