Encyclopedia of Diets - A Guide to Health and Nutrition

Precautions

Food safety issues
Food safetyis an important concern for patients
with HIV infection because their immune systems
have difficulty fighting off food- or water-borne dis-
ease organisms. While most people can getfood poi-
soningor parasitic infections of the digestive tract if
they drink contaminatedwateror do not prepare food
properly, patients with HIV infection can get severely
ill as a result of these diseases. Food-borne illnesses are
also much more difficult to treat in persons with AIDS
or HIV infection, and may lead to malabsorption
syndrome, a condition in which the body cannot
absorb and make use of needed nutrients in food.
The CDC and NIH have brochures with detailed
instructions for patients about safety issues in pur-
chasing and preparing foods, particularly when trav-
eling abroad. Basic safeguards include the following:

Wash hands repeatedly in warm soapy water before
and after preparing or eating food. Instant hand san-
itizers should be used when away from home.

Cook all meats, fish, and poultry to the well-done
stage; do not eat sushi, raw oysters, or raw meat in
any form.

Do not use unpasteurized milk or dairy products.

Do not eat raw, soft-boiled, or ‘‘wet’’ scrambled eggs,
or Caesar salad made with raw egg in the dressing.
Hard-boiled or hard-scrambled eggs are safe.

Rinse all fruits and vegetables carefully in clean, safe
water, and clean all cutting boards and knives that
touch chicken and meat with soap and hot water
before using these utensils with other food items.

Keep all refrigerated foods below 40F; check expi-
ration dates on food packaging.

Completely reheat leftovers before eating, and do not
eat leftovers that have been stored in the refrigerator
for longer than 3 days.

Do not drink water that comes directly from lakes,
streams, rivers, or springs, and ask for drinks without
ice in restaurants.

HIV patients with special needs
Patients with special needs include those with lim-
ited food budgets or without access to a kitchen for
preparing their own food. Advice regarding commun-
ity resources and other forms of assistance can be
found on the website of the Tufts University School
of Medicine Nutrition/Infection Unit at the URLs
listed under ‘‘Other’’ below.

CAM dietary treatments

In general, multivitamins, otherdietary supple-

ments, or herbal teas prepared by reliable manufac-

turers and approved by the patient’s physician are

useful complementary treatments for HIV patients.

Traditional Chinese medicines made outside the

United States, however, should be used with great

caution as their purity cannot be guaranteed.

Patients interested in a vegetarian diet should con-

sult their physician and nutritionist before starting

one; raw-food vegetarian diets should be avoided

because of the increased risk of contracting food-

borne diseases.Detoxification dietsand colonics are

risky practices for HIV patients and should not be

used.

Risks

There are no known risks to nutritional manage-

ment of patients with HIV infection by qualified pro-

fessionals working with the patient’s physicians and

nurses. There are few risks to the use of naturopathic

dietary supplements or herbal formulas provided that

the patient reports the use of alternative therapies to the

medical care team and does not use them as substitutes

for HAART or other mainstream medications.

Research and general acceptance

Research in the field of nutrition for HIV patients

is ongoing and can be expected to produce revised

guidelines for dietary management every few years

for the foreseeable future. These changes will result

as much from mutations in the disease organism as

from discoveries of new drugs and other forms of

treatment for HIV infection.

Resources

BOOKS

AETC National Resource Center.Health Care and HIV:

Nutritional Guide for Providers and Clients. Newark,

NJ: AETC National Resource Center, 2002. Available

online in PDF format at http://www.aidsetc.org/aid

setc?page=et-30-20-01 (may be downloaded as sepa-

rate chapters; complete book is 316 pages).

‘‘Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).’’ Chapter 192,

Section 14 in theMerck Manual of Diagnosis and

Treatment, 18th ed. Edited by Mark H. Beers and

Robert Berkow. Whitehouse Station, NJ: Merck, 2007.

Murray, Michael, ND, and Joseph Pizzorno, ND.Encyclo-

pedia of Natural Medicine, 2nd ed. Rocklin, CA: Prima

Publishing, 1998. Includes a list of herbal remedies and

dietary supplements recommended by naturopaths to

provide nutritional support for patients with AIDS.

AIDS/HIV infection