HIV fat re-distribution syndrome not true

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 13, 2005 (UPI via COMTEX) -- University of California, San Francisco, scientists say they have disproved the so-called fat re-distribution syndrome among men taking HIV drugs.

The researchers noted 22 published, peer-reviewed papers that posited the existence of "lipodystrophy" or "fat re-distribution syndrome," in which HIV therapy supposedly leads to an increase in visceral fat, along with a concomitant loss of fat in the face and limbs.

The syndrome is known among AIDS patients and care providers as "Crix belly," after the HIV drug Crixivan. "Changes in fat stigmatize HIV-infected patients and have led patients to stop their anti-retroviral therapy," write the authors.

But in their study, the university scientists joined with researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and found no connection between increased stomach fat and decreased limb fat in men taking anti-retroviral drugs.

"There isn't a shred of evidence that HIV-positive men who lose fat in their legs reciprocally gain fat in their bellies," stated principal investigator Dr. Carl Grunfeld, a staff physician at SFVAMC. "The two are totally dissociated."

The multi-center study is published in the October issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

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