Daily intake of multivitamins appears to delay the progress of the AIDS virus according to the results of a study of HIV infected women in Tanzania by Harvard researchers.
The team of researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and the Muhimbili University College of Health Services in Dar es Salaam, found that women took multivitamins B, C and E could significantly delayed the progression of HIV disease.
The researchers randomly assigned 1,078 HIV-infected pregnant women in Tanzania to receive a daily dose of one of four regimens: vitamin A alone, multivitamins excluding A (with vitamin B complex and vitamins C and E), multivitamins containing vitamin A, or a placebo. All women received standard doses of antenatal folic acid and iron and all children received 6-monthly doses of vitamin A, as per standard of care in Tanzania. Antiretroviral therapy was not available at the time of the study to the majority of women in Tanzania, including those who were eligible for participation in the study.
During the course of the study 299 of the 1078 women either died from AIDS-related causes or progressed to WHO stage 4 (equivalent to AIDS): Among the 271 women who received multivitamins, 67 (24.7 percent) progressed to WHO stage 4 or died of AIDS-related causes; among women who received multivitamins with vitamin A the total was 70 (26.1 (percent) of the 268; for those who received vitamin A alone it was 79 (29 percent) and of 272 who received the placebo it was 83 (31.1 percent) who progressed to WHO stage 4 or died from AIDS-related causes. Additionally, women in the study who took multivitamins had higher CD4 immune cell counts, lower viral loads, and reduced complications of HIV infection including oral thrush, oral ulcers, difficulty in swallowing, diarrhea and fatigue.