Now that polarising debates on “nutrition versus ARVs” are hopefully a thing of the past and the battle to get the state to supply ARVs to those who need them is more or less won, the critical but neglected area of nutrition needs to come under the spotlight.
With this in mind SABCOHA hosted Andre Croucamp, a media developer in this field, at its latest breakfast at Wits University’s Origin Centre on February 20 2008.

Opening the talk, SABCOHA CEO Brad Mears said it was high time nutrition is viewed as complimentary rather than an alternative to ARVs. He also said the private sector needed to look closely at the role it plays – or fails to play - in promoting good nutrition. “While we have deepening poverty and a lack of access to proper nutrition on the one hand, we also have a growing epidemic of obesity on the other,” said Mears.

Croucamp has years of experience as a media developer on nutrition among other subjects. He developed a comic called Eating with Hope for the Gauteng Department of Health and more recently, a hugely successful booklet, Taste for Life (funded by Anglo Platinum). With funding from Woolworths he has also developed a 13-part series, Helping Nature Help You, to assist schools in making their own food gardens.

Taste for Life is a colourful, imaginatively put-together booklet that should be a must-read for everyone – HIV positive or not – wanting to eat healthily. Given that most research is centered on pharmaceutical products and that nutrition-based research usually focuses on a single supplement, much about the complexities of nutrition remains unknown.

However, what is known is that the mortality rate for malnourished people starting on ARVs is six times higher than those who are nourished and that side effects also usually tend to be far worse, says Croucamp, who stresses the importance of a holistic look at nutrition.

He lists three key challenges:

• baseline nutrition provision
• establishing the nutritional needs common to all people with HIV
• understanding the relationship between nutrition and medication

Some key tips include:

• drinking lots of water is crucial
• breathing deeply helps reduce acidity in the body
• fatty acids are fundamental (they can be found in pilchards and other low-cost tinned fish).
• beetroots build white blood cells
• lemons, oats, sorghum and millet counteract acidity (opportunistic infections need an acidic environment to thrive)
• garlic can act as an antibacterial and can treat thrush (but is contra-indicated for many ARVs)
• pumpkin seeds have immune-boosting properties
• tumeric has medicinal qualities
• sesame seeds are high in calcium (one teaspoon gives a daily allowance)
• sugar should be avoided – many people on ARVs have diabetes and need to avoid both sugar and fried foods
• traditional African foods like sorghum beer are good for people with HIV although yeast is problematic.
• alcohol should also be avoided - research has shown that people who drink heavily are four times less likely to achieve a low viral load on ARVs.

For Croucamp's talk click here: Nutrition 28/02/2008,12:49 95.50 Kb.

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