POZ Community Forums
Meds, Mind, Body & Benefits => Nutrition & HIV => Topic started by: xinyuan on December 09, 2013, 10:52:11 pm
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Saw this:
http://www.poz.com/articles/multivitamin_slows_761_24915.shtml
It's coming from a very high profile medical journal. Need to find the original article ...
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I was excited by this too, then I thought about it.
I may be wrong, but might there not be a low baseline for nutrition in Botswana?
The WHO has this to say: "The Multiple Indicator Survey in 2000 showed that 2.4% of children had severe undernutrition while 7.9% were severely stunted. The prevalence of anaemia was 38% in children and 33% among women in 1994. Nutritional status of children aged under 5 years is shown in the table (http://www.aho.afro.who.int/profiles_information/index.php/File:Nutritional_status_of_children_under_five_years_of_age.png)."
So, these guys (and gals) taking the multivitamin were possibly just getting up to what is considered normal nutritional levels in, say, the US. This means that the dramatic benefits they gained might not be reproduced in someone who already gets the basic nutrients. You can't just add more and more vitamins and keep reaping rewards.
Also, this may be specific to sub-type C for all we know. I gots the sub-type B. :P
All in all it seems kind of hypey without adding what I would consider basic caveats.
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Excellent observations.
One of many reasons as to why I want to get the actual article to review.
Without knowing the baseline levels for these patients, we cannot make a solid comment on if they were deficient.
Also, subtypes tend to cluster by region, don't they? If other studies in other regions showed something similar, then these results could be generalized.