Selenium may help lower HIV levels

Reuters via Yahoo ^ | Jan 22, 2007 | Karla Gale

[SAJ]

Yep. 10mg selenium sulfate, push, will reduce anyone's chances of dying from AIDS or AIDS-related diseases to exactly zero.

[SAJ]

Except in microgram quantities, selenium metal and most selenium compounds are poisonous to the human body.

Sheesh.

[Rumplemeyer]

Any word on it's effect on MS?

[xzins]

Not the part about virulence and infectiousness.

[Pharmboy]

What are you talking about? When HIV/AIDS patients take their meds and reduce their viral counts to undetectable levels, they do not transmit the disease. HIV is a difficult infection to transmit in industrialized society UNLESS certain types of sex acts are committed or bad needles are shared.

The virulence of the virus is unchanged, though the resistance profile has changed.

I don't get your point...

[xzins]

So it's perfectly safe to have unprotected sex with an HIV positive/Aids patient.

I didn't know that.

[adam_smith_76]

Because of the research I was doing, I absorbed quite a lot of selenium into my system when in my early 20s...

Selenium is a touchy mineral, and the body needs just the right amount of it. Some people live in Se-rich parts of the country (like Wyoming) and have levels that are too high. A severe excess (selenosis) will cause a garlic odor on the breath, but I've never heard of feet. It also causes balding, but it's reversible. I don't know how long it takes the body to clear it. I just remember some things from doing some personal research some years ago.

[Pharmboy]

Not much in the medical literature on selenium, but good news on vitamin D (and this is just the latest):

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and risk of multiple sclerosis.Munger KL, Levin LI, Hollis BW, Howard NS, Ascherio A.
Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, and Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass 02115, USA.

CONTEXT: Epidemiological and experimental evidence suggests that high levels of vitamin D, a potent immunomodulator, may decrease the risk of multiple sclerosis. There are no prospective studies addressing this hypothesis. OBJECTIVE: To examine whether levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D are associated with risk of multiple sclerosis. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Prospective, nested case-control study among more than 7 million US military personnel who have serum samples stored in the Department of Defense Serum Repository. Multiple sclerosis cases were identified through Army and Navy physical disability databases for 1992 through 2004, and diagnoses were confirmed by medical record review. Each case (n = 257) was matched to 2 controls by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and dates of blood collection. Vitamin D status was estimated by averaging 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels of 2 or more serum samples collected before the date of initial multiple sclerosis symptoms. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Odds ratios of multiple sclerosis associated with continuous or categorical levels (quantiles or a priori-defined categories) of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D within each racial/ethnic group. RESULTS: Among whites (148 cases, 296 controls), the risk of multiple sclerosis significantly decreased with increasing levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (odds ratio [OR] for a 50-nmol/L increase in 25-hydroxyvitamin D, 0.59; 95% confidence interval, 0.36-0.97). In categorical analyses using the lowest quintile (<63.3 nmol/L) as the reference, the ORs for each subsequent quintile were 0.57, 0.57, 0.74, and 0.38 (P = .02 for trend across quintiles). Only the OR for the highest quintile, corresponding to 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels higher than 99.1 nmol/L, was significantly different from 1.00 (OR, 0.38; 95% confidence interval, 0.19-0.75; P = .006). The inverse relation with multiple sclerosis risk was particularly strong for 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels measured before age 20 years. Among blacks and Hispanics (109 cases, 218 controls), who had lower 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels than whites, no significant associations between vitamin D and multiple sclerosis risk were found. CONCLUSION: The results of our study suggest that high circulating levels of vitamin D are associated with a lower risk of multiple sclerosis.

[Tommy_Bas]

Yeah you'd think it would be easier.

But there's that gay lifestyle that gets in the way....

Can't have that.

[Pharmboy]

Well, if that's what you're looking to do, I would think again. While it is difficult to get HIV through standard heterosexual sexual contact (without any sores from herpes or other infections present on the genitals), it still carries some risk. When AIDS patients have reduced viral loads to nil, it further reduces the risk.

It is for these reasons that AIDS never crossed over into the hetero community that the media touted (and appeared to wish for) back in the '80s.

[beezdotcom]

Garlic is high in selenium. Perhaps if people ate more garlic, they'd be less likely to engage in behaviors that cause the transmission of HIV.

Um...I'm not sure garlic breath - or ANY breath - would necessarily be noticed in many of these behaviors.

[Perdogg]

Isn't Selenium in "Head and shoulders"? I guess you didn't see that movie.

[xzins]

The point is that the CDC suggests below that the drugs probably lead to risky behavior and that the drugs to not prevent infectiousness. (See underlined.) http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/msm.htm

The success of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) may have had the unintended consequence of increasing some MSM’s risk behaviors. Some research suggests that the negative aspects of HIV infection have been minimized since the introduction of HAART, which has led to a false understanding of what living with HIV means and thus can lead to an increase in risky sexual behaviors [16, 17]. For example, some MSM may mistakenly believe that they or their partners are not infectious when they take medication or when they have low or undetectable viral loads [18]. Even though surveys suggest that optimism about HIV treatments is associated with a greater willingness to have unprotected anal intercourse [19, 20], a recent review found that the prevalence of unprotected sexual intercourse was not significantly higher among HIV-positive persons who were receiving HAART or who had an undetectable viral load. However, this review did find that unprotected sex was associated with beliefs about HAART and viral load [21].

[expatpat]

I'm not sure that it does clear the body. Some of the elements accumulate and don't clear. Now I come to think of it, I think I also absorbed arsenic and tellurium at that time.

[spetznaz]

Are you saying that the disease doesn't exist, or that it is not what people say it is?

[carola]

Brazil nuts are also loaded with selenium. No garlic breath.

[CAWats]

selenium has been shown to prevent some cancers, up to 69%, strengthen the heart muscle, increase some immune factors by 79%, help prevent and treat cystic fibrosis and can lift mood and reduce anxiety and act as a powerful anti-oxidant

http://www.deaddoctors.com/html/20971.htm

[montag813]

Selenium may help lower HIV levels

So does not permitting foreign objects into one's anus.

[Pharmboy]

This is their effort to prevent risky behavior since there is evidence that not ALL people on HAART are protected, for instance see here:

Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2007 Jan 1;44(1):38-42.

Cervical shedding of HIV-1 RNA among women with low levels of viremia while receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Neely MN, Benning L, Xu J, Strickler HD, Greenblatt RM, Minkoff H, Young M, Bremer J, Levine AM, Kovacs A.

Department of Pediatrics, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA. mneely@usc.edu

BACKGROUND: Among women with low or undetectable quantities of HIV-1 RNA in plasma, factors associated with genital HIV-1 RNA shedding, including choice of treatment regimen, are poorly characterized. METHODS: We measured HIV-1 RNA in cervical swab specimens obtained from participants in the Women's Interagency HIV Study who had concurrent plasma viral RNA levels <500 copies/mL, and we assessed factors associated with genital HIV shedding. The study was powered to determine the relative effects of antiretroviral protease inhibitors (PIs) versus nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) on viral RNA shedding. RESULTS: Overall, 44 (15%) of 290 women had detectable HIV-1 RNA in cervical specimens. In the final multivariate model, shedding was independently associated with NNRTI (vs. PI) use (odds ratio [OR], 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.24, 1.13 to 4.45) and illicit drug use (OR, 95% CI: 2.41, 0.96 to 5.69). CONCLUSIONS: This is the largest study to define risks for genital HIV-1 RNA shedding in women with low/undetectable plasma virus. Shedding in this population was common, and NNRTI-based highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) (vs. PI-based HAART) was associated with genital HIV shedding. Further study is required to determine the impact of these findings on transmission of HIV from mother to child or to sexual partners.

So, if 15% have cervical virus, how are we to know? Therefore, we must tell everyone that they are infectious. As I said, it reduces the risk, it does not eliminate it. And the drugs prolong life, but AIDS is still no picnic.

Here's another abstract about antivirals and mother/child transmission:

: Curr Opin Infect Dis. 2006 Feb;19(1):33-8.

Strategies to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

McIntyre J. University of the Witwatersrand, Diepkloof, Johannesburg, South Africa. mcintyre@pixie.co.za

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review describes recent advances in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission, focusing on the use of antiretroviral treatment strategies in pregnancy, and discusses the emergence of viral resistance following the use of nevirapine to prevent mother-to-child transmission. RECENT FINDINGS: Mother-to-child transmission has been dramatically reduced in developed countries by the use of antiretroviral treatment and avoidance of breastfeeding. Highly active antiretroviral therapy use in pregnancy is recommended for women who require ongoing treatment, and, where available, is also very effective in reducing mother-to-child transmission in women with higher CD4 counts. The addition of a maternal and infant nevirapine dose to antenatal zidovudine can reduce transmission to below 5%, approximately half the transmission rate that can be achieved by single-dose nevirapine alone. The emergence of resistant virus following nevirapine use is a concern, occurring in up to 60% of mothers and 50% of infants following a single dose. Addition of zidovudine and lamivudine for 4-7 days postpartum can reduce the risk of resistance to 10%. SUMMARY: There is broad consensus on an approach to preventing mother-to-child transmission, which provides antiretroviral treatment in pregnancy and beyond to those women who need it, and an effective prophylactic regimen for those who do not yet need treatment, These regimens include highly active antiretroviral therapy, where available, a zidovudine-plus-nevirapine regimen in other settings, or nevirapine alone where this is all that is possible. More work is needed on the impact of nevirapine resistance and on reducing breast-milk transmission.

So you see, you must know the data and the context of CDC pronouncement about an infectious disease, especially AIDS.

[freespirited]

Except in microgram quantities, selenium metal and most selenium compounds are poisonous to the human body.

Obviously the reporter meant to say 200 micrograms, not 200 milligrams.

I think we can rest assured that the companies that market selenium supplements are not dumb enough to produce them in a form where a single pill taken daily would be toxic.