HIV/AIDS

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  June, 2006  by Marjorie Roswell

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Section 1: HIV/AIDS and Nutrition

Global Health Facts

http://www.globalhealthfacts.org/

Facts at a Glance

http://www.globalhealthreporting.org/diseaseinfo.asp?id=23

State Health Facts

http://www.statehealthfacts.org/

Kaiser Family Foundation-HIV/AIDS

http://www.kff.org/hivaids/

The Global Challenge of HIV and AIDS

http://www.prb.org/pdf06/61.1GlobalChallenge_HIVAIDS.pdf

From these data-rich pages you can see that 60 million people have become infected with HIV, including more than 20 million who have already died; You can also see maps displaying data by country or state. The Kaiser Family Foundation's HIV/AIDS timeline shares milestones in the history of the disease, including national and international initiatives.

Grouppe Kurosawa Natural Medicines Blog

http://grouppekurosawa.com/blog/

The founders of this site did a stint together in a minimum-security US Federal prison camp. When they got out, they created an excellent blog full of in-depth information on natural medicine for diseases. Be sure to download the "Current HIV Treatment Protocol." (See News this issue.)

Positively Positive

http://www.positivelypositive.ca/

http://www.positivelypositive.ca/videos/index.html

http://www.positivelypositive.ca/therapies/OnHIV/OnHIV.pdf

In 1984, Bradford McIntyre was told to prepare his affairs, that he'd be dead in six months from AIDS. Twenty-two years later, he's still here, sharing the keys to his health: a combination of plant sterols, live foods, supplements, intravenous vitamins and minerals (including vitamin C, vitamin D, magnesium, and selenium), meditation, exercise, visualization, reiki, prayer, along with selected mainstream medicines. He launched the web site, Positively Positive, in 2003. Don't miss the videos and his thoughtful essays on HIV.

Plant Sterols and Sterolins:

A Review of Their Immune-Modulating Properties

http://www.thorne.com/pdf/journal/4-3/plantserols_sterolins.pdf

http://www.thorne.com/altmedrev/fulltext/sterol4-3.html

This 1999 paper in the Alternative Medical Review shares impressive results from plant sterol consumption: human patients taking phytosterols were able to maintain stable immune cell numbers over the course of more than two years, while controls not receiving the phytosterols showed typical CD4 cell loss. The two nutrients being administered were beta-sitosterol and beta-sitosterol glycoside. (Beta-sitosterol is chemically similar to cholesterol, with an extra ethyl group.)

Phytochemicals

http://www.phytochemicals.info/

This is a terrific site from Belgium, showing the chemical structures of close to 40 phytochemicals.

USDA National Nutrient Database--Nutrient Lists

http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=9673

Search the USDA National Nutrient Database

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

Download Files

http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=10093

While generally helpful, the USDA list of "Reports by Single Nutrients," unfortunately does not include beta-sitosterol. The online database also does not report beta-sitosterol levels by food. However, if you download the full USDA Nutrient database, you'll find beta-sitosterol levels listed for 65 foods. (Modify the Access query named "Food Item Query by Nutrient," to select Nutr_No=641.) Pistachio nuts, almonds, hazelnuts, and macadamia nuts appear high on the list of beta-sitosterol-rich foods. This complements the foods listed at phytochemicals.info above, which identifies soybeans, wheat germ, and pumpkin seeds as good sources. Margarine is also showing up high on the USDA nutrient list, presumably because of the soybean oil source, but consuming margarine is not recommended, unless you can find a trans fat-free version. Note that nutrient levels can vary tremendously, based on the soils and other growing conditions. The USDA values are averaged lab results.

FitDay

http://www.Fitday.com/

FitDay.com is a terrific site, showing the percentage of calories that come from protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Note that greens contain a significant amount of protein--far more than most people realize! Raw spinach is 64% protein, for instance. Collards are 45% protein. Cooked red kidney beans are 38% protein. Chicken curry is 27% protein. Beef bologna is 16% protein. (Human milk is only three percent protein.) The easiest way to see these percent-of-calories numbers is to select only one food at a time and look under "Calories Eaten Today."

What Really Causes AIDS

http://www.hdfoster.com/WhatReallyCausesAIDS.pdf

http://www.hdfoster.com/index.html#Publications

Harold Foster identifies selenium, cysteine, tryptophan, and glutamine as the key to preventing and treating AIDS. The PDF above is a free download of his book, What Really Causes AIDS. He suggests that serum selenium levels are actually a better predictor of AIDS mortality than CD4. Note that the widespread use of commercial fertilizers depresses the uptake of selenium by crops.