Miami Herald - January 23, 2007
Jacob Goldstein, jgoldstein@MiamiHerald.com

A study conducted at the University of Miami found that a daily selenium capsule slowed the progress of the virus in patients who faithfully took the supplement and did not have gastrointestinal problems.

Most of the patients were also taking antiretroviral drugs, the standard medications used to treat HIV/AIDS.

"It's a simple, inexpensive and safe adjunct therapy," said Dr. Barry Hurwitz, who led the study.

IN MANY FOODS

Selenium is a mineral found in many kinds of food and is also sold as a supplement, which typically costs less than $10 for a one-month supply. Selenium helps regulate the thyroid and the immune system, and it forms antioxidants that protect the body from free radicals, molecules that can damage cells. In very high doses, it can be toxic.

Earlier studies found that HIV patients with low selenium levels were at increased risk for a wide range of health problems.

In a study published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers followed 174 HIV patients from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

The patients started with normal selenium levels and were randomly assigned to two groups: One group took a 200 microgram capsule of selenium every day, while the other group took a capsule that had no active ingredients.

The amount of virus in each patient's blood -- a measure known as viral load -- increased less for those patients who took selenium.

The effects were particularly striking for a smaller group whom the investigators labeled as "selenium responders" -- patients who took selenium supplements and had a significant increase in the amount of selenium in their blood.

The "selenium nonresponders" -- patients who took selenium but did not have a large increase in selenium in their blood -- took their supplements only 57 percent of the time on average, compared with more than 86 percent of the time for the "selenium responder" group.

Several patients with gastrointestinal problems, such as chronic diarrhea, also were deemed selenium nonresponders, despite taking their supplements faithfully. Researchers speculated that these patients' digestive problems prevented them from absorbing the selenium.

For selenium responders, viral load did not increase at all, on average. In addition, a key measure of immune strength known as CD4 count increased in these patients.

'A GOOD PAPER'

"This is a good paper," said Dr. Clara Jones, who studies nutrition and HIV at the Tufts University School of Medicine.

She added that it was difficult to generalize too much from the results because patients with many health problems, like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, were excluded and because a high percentage of those in the study had substance abuse problems.

Nevertheless, she said, "There is no reason, based on this, to say you should not [use the selenium] supplement."

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