According to an article in the January 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine (one of the JAMA/Archives journals) daily intake of selenium supplements seem to increase the level of the essential mineral in the blood which could suppress the progression of viral load in patients with HIV infection.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has extended the life expectancy of HIV patients. But in order to keep HIV viral counts at a minimum, once must strictly adhere to ART, thereby risking its toxic effects and metabolic dysfunction.

In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of selenium supplements in 262 patients with HIV, Barry E. Hurwitz, Ph.D., University of Miami, and colleagues found that higher blood selenium levels predicted a decreased HIV viral load, which in turn predicted increased CD4 count.

CD4 count is a measure of the state of the immune system (the lower the CD4 count, the more likely a patient with HIV/AIDS is to develop secondary infections or illnesses) while HIV viral load is the number of copies of the HIV virus in the blood.

It is suspected that selenium's antioxidant properties may repair the oxygen-damaged immune cells, which is produced at higher levels in the bodies of patients with HIV.

Read more from the full report.

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