HIV/AIDS Treatment Challenges

Muscle and Weight Loss

Maintaining your weight during HIV or AIDS treatment is so important. The loss of as little as 5 percent of your body weight can adversely affect your response to HIV or AIDS therapy. But maintaining your weight is important for more than just your fight against the disease — it's essential for your quality of life.

Slowing your weight loss and rebuilding muscle can give you more energy for the independence and activities you treasure — like spending a morning in the garden or an evening with friends and family.

Muscle wasting is what happens when the body breaks down the proteins in muscle for energy. This breakdown causes your body to lose muscle. Even if your weight stays the same, your body may still be breaking down muscle for energy. Loss of muscle and organ tissue can make it harder for you to get better during an illness and stay mobile and active. The effects of muscle wasting are serious and can affect both quality of life and survival. Maintaining muscle and organ tissue is vital for people living with HIV/AIDS.

What Is Lean Body Mass?

Lean body mass is functional tissue that is vital for life.1 Specifically, it consists of all components of the body (muscle, bones, organs, skin) except fat. Maintaining LBM is essential for strength, organ function, skin integrity, wound healing and immunity. You may be losing LBM if you have weakness, fatigue, lack of strength or energy, loss of appetite, early satiety (feeling full sooner than normal or after eating less than usual), or weight loss.

Immune Function

For people with HIV/AIDS, nutrition and immune function are closely related.1 Good nutrition may help strengthen immune function.1 Special ingredients in nutritional products may also improve immune status.2

What Can You Do?

Sometimes a balanced diet alone isn’t enough to help you gain lean body mass or improve immune status. Rest or therapy isn’t always enough to help you heal. Ask your doctor, nurse or dietitian about supplementing your diet. But before you talk to your health care team, see How Juven® Helps or visit the Tools section of this Web site for some helpful guides.

References

1. Macallan DC: Nutrition and immune function in human immunodeficiency virus infection. Proc Nutr Soc 1999;58:743-748.
2. Clark RH, Feleke G, Din M, et al: Nutritional treatment for acquired immunodeficiency virus-associated wasting using β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate, glutamine, and arginine: A randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study. JPEN 2000;24:133-139.