Nexus - 1102 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

AIDS SELENOENZYME SOLUTION THE AIDS is a consequence of HIV infection which causes deficiencies of the enzyme glutathione peroxidase and its four components, yet this syndrome and viral activity can be reversed with dietary supplementation. Part 2 of 2 COROLLARY ONE: Deficiencies of Glutathione Peroxidase and its Components in HIV/AIDS ere is strong evidence to show that HIV-seropositive individuals are deficient in glutathione peroxidase. Gil and colleagues,™ for example, compared levels of it in the blood of 85 HIV/AIDS patients with those in 40 healthy controls, confirming the presence of a significant (p<0.05) reduction of the selenoenzyme in the infected group. Beyond this, Batterham and co-workers* showed that such depressed glutathione per- oxidase levels in men with HIV/AIDS could be raised by supplementation with selenium and other antioxidants. If Aumann and co-workers* are correct, then HIV/AIDS patients should also be very defi- cient in the four nutritional components that these researchers believe are required by the body to produce glutathione peroxidase—namely, selenium, cysteine, glutamine and trypto- phan. There is certainly good evidence to prove that such individuals are selenium deficient. Several studies have documented declining plasma selenium levels in patients with HIV/AIDS. Probably the most convincing of these was conducted by Baum and co-workers” in Florida. These researchers monitored 125 HIV-1-seropositive male and female drug users in Miami over a period of 3.5 years. This study collected data on CD4 T-cell count, antiretroviral treatment and plasma levels of vitamins A, E, B6 and B12 as well as selenium and zinc. A total of 21 of these patients died during the study. Only plasma selenium levels and CD4 T-cell counts could have been used to predict which of the 125 patients would die, with selenium levels being more accurate predictors than CD4 T-cell counts. The same research group also monitored 24 HIV-infected children over a five-year period, during which time half of them died of AIDS. As with adults, the lower their serum selenium levels, the faster that death occurred. It also appears as if the selenium deficiency seen in HIV/AIDS patients, as expected, makes them more susceptible to Coxsackievirus infection. As a consequence, myocardial infarctions are quite common even in relatively young people who are HIV seropositive.” In addition, autopsies often reveal that AIDS patients”! have been suffering from, and perhaps have died of, Keshan disease—an endemic heart disease normally limited to the populations of regions of extreme selenium deficiency. HIV/AIDS patients also display low plasma levels of cysteine at every stage of infection.” Since this amino acid is one of the body's major sources of sulphur, they are very deficient in it.” Interestingly, depressed cysteine is also characteristic of SIV-infected rhesus macaques. Several researchers have documented glutamine deficiencies in HIV/AIDS patients.“ Shabert and colleagues, for example, discovered that much of the weight loss seen in individ- uals could be reversed by glutamine—antioxidant supplementation. If HIV is producing glutathione peroxidase for its own purposes and if this selenoenzyme contains tryptophan, then HIV/AIDS patients should be deficient in this amino acid. This appears to be the case. Werner and co-workers, for example, have shown that, in male patients with advanced HIV infection, tryptophan serum levels are less than half of those found in matched healthy controls. Since tryptophan is required for the biosynthesis of both serotonin and niacin, it is not surprising that their levels are also depressed in patients with HIV/AIDS.”:” It is clear from the literature just cited that HIV/AIDS patients are indeed very deficient in glutathione peroxidase and in the four components of this selenoenzyme—namely, selenium, cysteine, glutamine and tryptophan. In short, the clinical and scientific evidence supports the truth of corollary one. by Harold D. Foster, PhD © 2003 Professor, Department of Geography University of Victoria PO Box 3050 Victoria, BC, V8W 3P5, Canada Email: hfoster@mail.geog.uvic.ca Website: http://www.hdfoster.com Email: hfoster@mail.geog.uvic.ca Website: http://www.hdfoster.com NEXUS = 39 FEBRUARY — MARCH 2004 www.nexusmagazine.com