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Nutrition and HIV/AIDS: The Efficacy of Food Based Interventions Evaluated by Stable Isotope Techniques
Closed for proposals
Project Type
Project Code
E43020CRP
1315Approved Date
Status
Start Date
Expected End Date
Completed Date
6 February 2012Description
Out of the more than 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, nearly 30 million individuals are living in sub-Saharan Africa. The extremely high prevalence of RN/AIDS combined with food shortages and high prevalence of under-nutrition highlight the current crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. The importance of access to an adequate diet and to integrate nutrition into a comprehensive response to HIV/AIDS was recently highlighted by the WHO. In particular, as
antiretroviral (ARV) treatment becomes readily avai1able in resource poor areas, the associations between nutrition - HIV I AIDS – ARB treatment need special attention. To achieve the full benefits of ARV treatment, adequate dietary intake is essential. Very limited information is available on the interactions between ARV treatment and nutrition, in particular chronically under nourished populations. There is thus an urgent need to evaluate locally appropriate, sustainable
food based strategies on nutritional status and the potential impact of nutritional supplementation on delaying the initiation of ARV treatment and/or on the response to ARV treatment.
The overall aim of the proposed CRP is to evaluate the efficacy of nutrition interventions in people living with HIV I AIDS based on changes in body composition (muscle mass), measured by stable isotope technique. In particular the associations between nutrition -HIV/AIDS - AARV treatment will be given special emphasis
Objectives
To contribute to a better understanding of the importance of adequate nutrition for people living with HIV/AIDS.
Specific objectives
To evaluate associations between nutrition - HIV infection - ARV treatment whenever appropriate
To evaluate the efficacy of food based nutrition interventions in people living with HIV/AIDS based on changes in body composition (muscle mass), measured by stable isotope technique
Impact
The results of the CRP have improved the understanding of the importance of nutrition in the management of HIV/AIDS. The findings will inform nutritionists and clinicians on the relative value of various measurements in assessing nutritional status and body composition of HIV-infected persons and consequently assist in the provision of improved care. Bioimpedance equations currently used for deriving total body water and fat-free mass in Nigerian and HIV-infected American children are not precise to be applied to HIV-infected children in other African countries, such as South Africa. Findings also contribute to an increase in knowledge of the relationship between HIV medication status and the problems of lipodystrophy and the metabolic syndrome in female adults. In addition, the CRP results contribute to a better understanding of the effect of ART and nutritional support on malnourished children with comorbidities in lower middle income countries and will inform the design of nutrition interventions.
The CRP also provided training to young scientists (2 PhD and two MD student projects).
Relevance
The outputs of this CRP are highly relevant to the Agency and will inform on-going and future TC projects in this area. The use of the reference method for assessment of body composition, the deuterium dilution technique, helped to understand changes in fat and fat-free mass deposition in individuals on ARV treatment and actual nutritional requirements of patients. The results of this CRP complement the efforts of the TC programme with the RAF7/006, which main outcome was its contribution to the improvement in services delivery in the priority areas of social development of national nutrition intervention campaigns related to people living with HIV/AIDS. In addition, the research results of the CRP on nutritional interventions targeted at people living with HIV/AIDS complement IAEA's efforts on nutrition and HIV/AIDS and the integration of nutrition into HIV programmes provided in regional workshops with WHO (2007 and 2008).