New Age2.png 'Vitamin D slows Aids' Lerato Diale, The New Age, Johannesburg, 3 June 2016 A new study has found that the supplementation of vitamin D slows down the progression of Aids in people living with HIV. The study is a collaboration between the University of Cape Town, University of Stellenbosch and University of Pennsylvania. Associate professor of Durban University of Technology Morgan Chetty said the study had important implications for healthcare policy makers and clinicians in Southern Africa. "The region is the worst affected in the world and widely considered the epicentre of the global HIV epidemic. Prof Morgan Chetty.jpg Based on this research, vitamin D supplementation could potentially be a relatively cost effective way of helping to prolong the lives of HIV positive individuals," Chetty said. He said: "Vitamin D regulates the expression of specific endogenous antimicrobial peptides in immune cells of the body. This action leads to the important part Vitamin D plays in modulating the immune response to various infectious disease." While the metabolic status of Vitamin D is well documented under normal conditions, research by academics from the University of Cape Town suggested that viral infections appeared to hinder the natural process. Despite researchers being unable to explain this, supplementation of vitamin D appears to boost white blood cell count and slow down HIV progression in infected individuals. Chetty said: "Providing this essential nutrient to patients may be a simple, cost-effective intervention to slow down the onset of Aids, as well as prevent a wide range of auto-immune diseases, infections and malignancies." The study also suggested that Africans were more likely than other groups to suffer from vitamin D deficiency. "Except in the case of albinism, all people contain certain concentrations of melanocytes in the dermis of their skin. Skin pigmentation regulates the penetration of UV radiation. However, a high concentration of melanin in the African skin prevents the body from making sufficient vitamin D resulting in a deficiency, particularly in winter," he said. Chetty is expected to speak at the Health Management Conference, to form part of the sixth annual Africa Health Exhibition and Congress this month in Johannesburg. [email protected] From: http://tnaepaper.co.za/DRIVE/main%20edition/03062016/epaperpdf/2.pdf -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
