Randomized pilot trial of a synbiotic dietary supplement in chronic HIV-1 infection.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Anti-HIV Agents, published as a randomized controlled trial.

Infection with HIV-1 results in marked immunologic insults and structural damage to the intestinal mucosa, including compromised barrier function.

While the development of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has been a major advancement in the treatment of HIV-1 infection, the need for novel complementary interventions to help restore intestinal structural and functional integrity remains unmet.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

This was a 4-week parallel, placebo-controlled, randomized pilot trial in HIV-infected women on antiretroviral therapy.

Secondary outcomes included the levels of supplemented bacteria in stool, the activation phenotype of peripheral T-cells and monocytes, and plasma levels of C-reactive protein and soluble CD14.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel-group and pilot study.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Anti-HIV Agents group and the comparison group should start out alike.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Anti-HIV Agents could be set against what happens without it.

The Anti-HIV Agents group and the comparison group ran side by side rather than switching.

It is described as a pilot, a small early test of whether a larger Anti-HIV Agents study would be practical.

The primary outcome was bacterial translocation.

What Was Measured

Infection with HIV-1 results in marked immunologic insults and structural damage to the intestinal mucosa, including compromised barrier function.

While the development of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has been a major advancement in the treatment of HIV-1 infection, the need for novel complementary interventions to help restore intestinal structural and functional integrity remains unmet.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include ADP-ribosyl Cyclase 1, Anti-HIV Agents, Bacteria, Bacterial Translocation, C-Reactive Protein, CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes and CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, placebo-controlled and parallel-group study of Anti-HIV Agents.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 8 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2012 (BMC complementary and alternative medicine), a journal based in England.

More context: all human trials.