PURCHASE, New York: A daily dose of selenium yeast has been found to slow down the progression of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and improve the immune cell CD4 counts in HIV-1 patients, according to results of a clinical trial done in concert with the National Institutes of Health in the United States.
Scientists believe the findings are important because boosting the immune cell CD4 count and suppressing the viral loads can decrease the likelihood of developing complications in HIV patients and prolong life.
According to Dr Barry E Hurwitz of the University of Miami and lead investigator in the study, the study builds on previous research showing selenium's potential role as an antioxidant in immune health and possible consequences of selenium deficiency in people living with HIV/AIDS. The results support the use of selenium yeast as an inexpensive, safe nutritional therapy in HIV spectrum disease, he said.
The details of the study have been reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
The study says low blood levels of selenium have been linked to high HIV virulence and more opportunistic infections. In lab experiments, the element has been found to suppress HIV-1 replication.
The researchers enrolled 260 HIV-infected adults with no other major diagnosis and put them on 200-milligram capsules of inactive yeast (placebo) daily or 200-milligram capsules of high-selenium yeast. The researchers used selenium-enriched yeast (Selenomax made by Nutrition 21 Inc.) because it contains high concentrations of organic, bio-available forms of selenium.
After 9 months, it was found that viral load had increased by 10,000 to 20,000 copies/milliliter in the placebo group, while it had remained unchanged in the group on selenium supplementation. This group's members had their CD4 cell counts increased.
The researchers feel selenium supplementation could become a simple, inexpensive and safe adjunct therapy to antiretroviral medications for HIV.
Hurwitz said consumers should be careful while buying selenium-enriched yeast from stores and using it because many forms of selenium that are sold are not readily absorbed into the blood stream.
Apart from this, selenium has also been found helpful against a host of ailments including cancer, coronary disease and arthritis. A deficiency of selenium, which is available in plenty in meats, fish, grains and Brazil nuts and is often lacking in the diets of poor populations, has been linked to muscle disease, infertility, heart disease, thyroid problems and faster mutation of influenza viruses into more virulent forms.
