Vitamin supplements 'improve TB treatments'
26/06/2008
Tuberculosis (TB) sufferers who supplement their diet with nutrients such as selenium and Vitamin C are more likely to respond to treatment, new research has suggested.
Scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston based their findings on an analysis of 887 TB patients in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
They found that people who regularly received nutrient supplements enjoyed a significantly reduced risk of TB treatment failure, noting a 45 per cent reduction in the odds of the disease returning.
"The nutritional status is a very important predictor of clinical outcomes in patients with infections," lead researcher Eduardo Villamor told Reuters.
His team further noted that the inverse link between vitamin uptake and TB re-infection rates was registered most strongly among the sub-group of patients who were also infected with HIV.
While the nutrients were not found to have any direct impact on the progression of Aids, this is nonetheless significant given that TB is the number-one killer of HIV-positive people in Africa.
Commenting on the study, Dr Villamor said: "Results from a single study are usually not sufficient to provide general recommendations; however, this relatively inexpensive intervention does seem promising as a potential way to improve the outcome of patients receiving anti-TB treatment."
Christine Stabell Benn of the Statens Serum Institute, Copenhagen, added: "We believe that the findings represent a true effect and that ... nutrient supplementation could be an important therapy for patients with TB."
Earlier this year, the UN called for a "common strategy to scale up efforts to systematically address HIV-TB co-infection".
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