"Vegetable basket" can slow down ARV's

By Tarryn Le Chat
02 October 2006

There is no substitute for anti-retroviral (ARV’s) in the treatment of HIV and Aids. The African potato, widely prescribed by the minister of health, may in fact lower ARV effectiveness by up to 80 percent.

Kas Kosongo, an HIV/Aids doctor, and educator at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and co-ordinator of the HIV Clinician Society of Nelson Mandela Bay elaborates: “While some extracts of the African potato in purified forms are helpful, some are harmful as (they) suppress the bone marrow. The treatment would lowered up to 80%”

People with HIV/Aids should not be eating loads of garlic and beetroot either, according to Roy Kennedy, a dietician, at the Stellenbosch University.

Eating large amounts of garlic while on some kinds of ARV’s can make treatment up to 50% less effective according to Kennedy.

HIV patients require more vitamins and minerals than the recommended daily allowance.