Summary:
- According to Kamara Daniel, a Clinical and Community Nutritionist at Bwindi Community Hospital in Kanungu District who also serves as the Board Member, Allied Nutritionists Association of Uganda, HIV/AIDS Patients need proper levels of different nutrients in order to build and repair cells, keep hormones regulated, fight infection, and maintain energy levels.
OP-ED: Good nutrition is very important for long-term health and well-being. Studies have found that people living with HIV who regularly eat healthy food in the right amounts can better tolerate HIV drugs, maintain a healthy weight, and feel better overall. Nutritionists often use the term “nutritional status” to describe whether someone is getting the right amount of nutrients from their diet. Diet here means whatever you eat and drink, not a specific set of food restrictions for losing weight.
Nutrients like fats, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and other important chemicals. According to Kamara Daniel, a Clinical and Community Nutritionist at Bwindi Community Hospital in Kanungu District who also serves as the Board Member, Allied Nutritionists Association of Uganda, HIV/AIDS Patients need proper levels of different nutrients in order to build and repair cells, keep hormones regulated, fight infection, and maintain energy levels.
“For the most part, we cannot make nutrients. We get what we need from food and, when that is not we recommend supplements, The HIV virus attacks the immune system. In the early stages of infection, a person shows no visible signs of illness but later many of the signs of AIDS will become apparent, including weight loss, fever, diarrhoea and opportunistic infections (such as sore throat and tuberculosis)”. Kamara said.
He added “Good nutritional status is very important from the time a person is infected with HIV. Nutrition education at this early stage gives the person a chance to build up healthy eating habits and to act to improve food security in the home, particularly as regards the cultivation, storage, and utilization and cooking of food”.
He said that good nutrition is also vital to help maintain the health and quality of life of the person suffering from AIDS.
“Infection with HIV damages the immune system, which leads to other infections such as fever and diarrhoea. These infections can lower food intake because they both reduce appetite and interfere with the body’s ability to absorb food. As a result, the person becomes malnourished, loses weight and is weakened”. He noted.
“One of the possible signs of the onset of clinical AIDS is a weight loss of about 6-7 kg for an average adult. When a person is already underweight, a further weight loss can have serious effects. A healthy and balanced diet, early treatment of infection and proper nutritional recovery after infection can reduce this weight loss and reduce the impact of future infection”. He said.
According to him, a person may be receiving treatment for the opportunistic infections and also perhaps combination therapy for HIV; these treatments and medicines may influence eating and nutrition.
“Good nutrition will reinforce the effect of the drugs taken”. He remarked.
He said “When nutritional needs are not met, recovery from an illness will take longer. During this period the family will have the burden of caring for the sick person, paying for health care and absorbing the loss of earnings while the ill person is unable to work. In addition, good nutrition can help to extend the period when the person with HIV/AIDS is well and working”.
Good nutrition depends on many things, including:
- What type of food you eat and how much of it, how your body breaks down and soaks up nutrients, how different parts of your body use these nutrients
HIV-related changes in any of these factors can affect your nutritional status. Over time, this can lead to a variety of problems, including:
- Weight loss
- Muscle wasting (loss of muscle)
- High levels of fats and sugars in the blood
- Not enough vitamins and minerals
Many of these problems can be avoided or managed by eating the right foods.
Nutritional status can be determined in many ways, including:
- Weight and other measurements of body fat and muscle mass
- Haemoglobin or haematocrit counts, which measure iron in the blood (haemoglobin helps your red blood cells carry oxygen, which gives you energy)
- Other blood tests to check levels of important fats and cholesterol proteins (such as albumin), vitamins (B-12, vitamin D), and minerals (sodium, potassium)
- Haemoglobin A1c levels to diagnose pre-diabetes or to monitor diabetes.
Diet and HIV
A healthy diet is a key part of any HIV treatment plan. A diet is simply any food and drink that you consume regularly. Your diet should give you the nutrients you need to:
- Fight weight and muscle loss
- Keep energy levels high
- Help you get what you need from medications you take
- Minimize the negative effects of HIV drugs
Women Living with HIV and Nutrition
Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) are set by the Nutritionists to let people know how much of each nutrient they need each day to maintain good health. However, the RDA does not consider that living with HIV increases these needs. One study showed that people living with HIV needed between six and 25 times the RDA of some nutrients.
Nutritional care and support promote well-being, self-esteem and a positive attitude to life for people and their families living with HIV/AIDS.
Healthy and balanced nutrition should be one of the goals of counselling and care for people at all stages of HIV infection. An effective programme of nutritional care and support will improve the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS, by:
- maintaining body weight and strength;
- replacing lost vitamins and minerals;
- improving the function of the immune system and the body’s ability to fight infection;
- extending the period from infection to the development of the AIDS disease;
- improving response to treatment; reducing time and money spent on health care;
- keeping HIV-infected people active, allowing them to take care of themselves, their family and children; and
Therefore, Nutrition keeps HIV-infected people productive, able to work, grow food and contribute to the income of their families.
