Zinc doesn't relieve HIV-related diarrhea

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Two weeks of treatment with zinc supplements does not reduce or eliminate persistent diarrhea in adults infected with HIV, according to a report by an international team of researchers.

Chronic diarrhea can be a serious complication for people with HIV. Zinc supplementation has been shown to reduce the incidence and severity of diarrhea in children, the authors explain, but whether zinc improves persistent diarrhea among HIV-infected adults is unclear.

Dr. King K. Holmes from University of Washington, Seattle, and colleagues investigated whether dietary zinc supplementation, 50 milligrams twice daily for 2 weeks, influenced the persistence or severity of diarrhea in 159 HIV-infected adults in Peru with at least a 7-day history of diarrhea. The findings are reported in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

The frequency of diarrhea was no less with zinc supplementation than with placebo treatment, the authors report. Other gastrointestinal symptoms and fever also occurred with similar frequency in the two groups.

"Longer treatment or follow-up beyond 2 weeks might have revealed treatment benefit," the investigators speculate. "Among children, however, benefits of zinc supplementation on diarrhea have been evident after the fourth day of supplementation."

SOURCE: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, October 1, 2006.