This research paper considers the correlation between Nutrition and AIDS Essay and how to assure optimal nutritional status despite the multifactorial complications of the HIV-AIDS progression. It is irrespective of popular beliefs that proper nutrition does not affect the quality and longevity of people with AIDS (PWAS). This research aims to prove that nutrition intervention has an important role in the treatment of AIDS.
Some of the information contained in this document will be new to some readers since there is little clinical research published on AIDS and nutritional intervention. Readers who are accustomed to reading articles on sexually transmitted diseases, and how to safeguard against the AIDS disease (e. g. condomizing) will be brought face to face with unrelenting information that has been uncovered and will be presented in a simple, yet straightforward way. Information for this research paper was sourced from relevant books, online sources and from the Caribbean Epidemiology Center (CAREC) in Trinidad.
An appendix will also be used to simplify the information. The result of this paper as predicted by the researcher will create a heightened sense of awareness of the effect nutritional status of PWAS to the population. In Trinidad and Tobago, the population is relatively well educated and more prosperous than most Third World countries so HIV/AIDS should not be a major problem. Unfortunately, despite our educational levels, despite the churches assertion of the impossible abstinence over the feasibility and availability of condoms, Trinidad and Tobago is the highest infected country in the Caribbean. (See Appendix 1).
Hence, during the HIV-AIDS progression, people’s nutritional status is challenged by symptoms of malabsorption, abnormal nutrient metabolism and severe malnutrition, which decrease longevity and increase morbidity. Malnutrition is a serious problem in the HIV-AIDS progression. The HIV-AIDS progression is a chronic and long-term condition, thus influencing the nutritional status of individuals by affecting nutrient absorption, calorie intake and energy expenditure. Fortunately, malabsorption can be treated by appropriate feeding methods. Malnutrition and malabsorption are universal problems in PWAS, as death is directly related to the degree of their body mass depletion.
As a result, malnutrition attracts opportunistic infections to PWAS, which in turn contributes to disease progression. As a result, nutritional management is an integral part in the HIV/AIDS progression. Nutritional management reverses a patient’s immune dysfunctions, which are directly related to malnutrition, hence increasing longevity and quality of life. The First International Conference on the correlation between nutrition and AIDS was held in France. At the culmination of the conference, it was concurred that “ multifactorial nutritional support in HIV infection and AIDS can make a difference in managing disease complications and improve the quality of life of patients” (Cope, 1995, p. 1).
In that year, nutritional deficiencies were recorded in 67% of HIV positive persons. The conference also offered a forum where medical and clinical information from First World and Third World countries on issues such as nutritional assessment, dietary tips to overcome specific problems, in the progression HIV and AIDS on the immunity and various nutritional support of HIV patients were conversed. . The importance of nutritional intervention in the HIV-AIDS progression has changed since the recognition of the problem as a syndrome in the early 1980’s.
In 1987, a case study on a 29-year old male was conducted. He was admitted to a University Hospital in New York where he suffered from nausea, vomiting and rectal bleeding. In addition, he was readmitted three times with more infections and severe weight loss. Nutritional support and nutritional education was administered to the patient. Regrettably, the role of nutrition in the treatment of the patient was delayed.
He died ten days later. Still, in the year 2001 nutritional and clinical studies have received little notice in the general literature for the public. ESSENTIAL ROLE OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM IN MAINTAINING THE BODY’S HEALTHThe immune system is an arrangement within the body that comprises of two significant cell types, namely: the B-cell and the T-cells. The B- cell are accountable for the production of antibodies (or specific proteins that unite to a specific molecular shape) while the T-cells are responsible for assisting the B-cell in the production of antibodies as well as acting as defense mechanisms, consequently attacking any foreign cells that enter the body.
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