Nutritionist Cautions HIV Patients On Herbal Medicine

A nutritionist, Hajiya Jummai Hassan has advised people living with HIV to avoid the intake of any herbal medicine as it could react with anti-retroviral drugs.

Hassan said in Abuja that people living with the virus should also avoid alcohol and tobacco.

“The use of herbs is not allowed for HIV patients because it interferes with the act of the medicine that it depreciates the value of ARV in the body. “The patients should also avoid the intake of alcohol and the sniffing of tobacco.”

She said the patients could eat any kind of food, but it must have all the essential nutrients like fruits, vegetable, protein, carbohydrate, fats and oil.

Hassan advised that they should practice good hygiene, adding that their drinking water must be clean and if not clean should use water guard.

“They must practice good hygiene by washing and cleaning properly, the drinking water must be clean if not clean use water guard into 20 litres of water and after 20 minutes, you can drink it.”

She advised them to eat rice and beans with vegetables and also take one orange or banana after meals.

Hassan said they should cultivate the habit of using fruits and vegetables as snacks rather than eating junk food.

According to her, people living with the virus should take a cup of warm milk or sprinkle salt in pap when having diarrhoea.

Hassan advised the people to engage in daily exercise as it was very important for them to live healthy.

She said that Moringa leaves was very important for HIV patients because it has more than 500mg of iron compared to green and could boost immunity.

The free encyclopedia describes Moringa as the sole genus in the flowering plant family Moringacea, the name is derived from the Tamil word murunggai or the Malayalam word muringa.

It contains 13 species from tropical and subtropical climates that range in size from tiny herbs to massive trees.