Multivitamins found to delay onset of AIDS

High-dose multivitamins that cost $15 annually can be a cost-effective way to delay the progression of HIV into AIDS, and also delay the initiation of expensive antiretroviral therapy, according to researchers.

A study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health of 1,078 HIV-positive pregnant women in Tanzania showed that high doses of vitamin B complex and vitamins C and E were more effective than placebos or vitamin A in delaying the onset and controlling symptoms.

The research, conducted from 1995 to 2003 when antiretroviral drugs were not available to most women in Tanzania, showed a 50% reduction in the risk of progression to AIDS in those who took multivitamins, compared with those who didn’t.

About 7% of the women who took multivitamins progressed to AIDS, compared with 12% in the placebo group. About 19% of the women who took multivitamins died, compared with 25% in the placebo group. The effect was strongest in the first two years. Vitamin A, which evidence had indicated might be beneficial, did not seem to help.

The lead author, Wafaie Fawzi, an associate professor of international nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, said she hoped the study would encourage health programs to use vitamins B, C, and E in treatment programs in the developing world. The study was published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Valerie Reitman