Phytochemical Lycopene Inhibits the Risk of HIV Infection

By Kyle J. Norton


Infection is a condition caused the invasion of stimuli and micro pathogens, including the viral infection.

A viral infection is a disease caused by the successful entering and multiplying of a virus in the body.

Anti-viral effects is an act in which certain substances are used to cause the destruction of a virus.

In the acute phase of viral infection, depending on the types of virus, the viruses after entering the body start to attack the specific host cells.

The white blood cells in the systematic immune response in the acute phase of infection stimulate the production of the proinflammatory cytokines to the site of infection with an aim to protect our body by killing off the invaders.

The cold and flu virus will attack the cells in the respiratory system and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS, attacks the white blood cells of the immune system,

The viral infection has been known to carry over some different stage, after successfully attaching to the host cell, the virus to release its mRNA into the host cell, leading to the recruit of the host cell's enzymes to accelerate the viral multiplying, then breaking free from the host cell to start the cycle all over again.

The battle between the immune white blood cell and viral invaders in most cases an in the flavor of the side of the immune system, the invaders are killed and the infection is healed.

However, if the immune system can not kill off the invaders with 3 - 8 weeks, it then will adapt to the change, leading to chronic inflammatory and infectious diseases.

HIV infection left untreated will weaken the host immune system, leading to AIDs, a major cause of life-threatening infections and disease.

According to the statistic from the US government, approximately 1.1 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV today. About 15 percent of them (1 in 7) are unaware they are infected. In approximately38,700 Americans were newly infected with HIV.

Lycopene is a phytochemical found in tomato in the class of carotenoid, a natural pigment with no vitamin A activity found abundantly in tomatoes and other red fruits and vegetables, such as red carrots, watermelons, and papayas.

Tomatoes provide about 80% of the lycopene in the world diet. In plants, lycopene protects the host against excessive photodamage and perform various functions in photosynthesis.

On finding a potential compound for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases (HIV), researchers examined the serum antioxidant levels in 175 HIV-positive and 210 HIV-negative injecting drug users (IDUs) in Baltimore, Maryland.

According to the results of data collection of 30 HIV-positive IDUs who were receiving antiretroviral therapies (ART), mean serum levels of lycopene and lutein/zeaxanthin were significantly lower in HIV-positive IDUs than HIV-negative IDUs.

In other words, lycopene and lutein/zeaxanthin has an inversely associated with the risk of HIV  injecting drug users (IDUs).

Furthermore, serum alpha-tocopherol levels were significantly higher in HIV-positive IDUs than HIV-negative IDUs (medians = 744 microg/dl and 718 microg/dl, respectively; p = 04).

Levels of antioxidant levels by ART regimen are lower among HIV-positive study subjects, comapred to the HIV-negative group.

After adjusting to other factors such as injecting drug use, dietary intake, supplement intake, gender, and alcohol intake, levels of alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene, and beta-cryptoxanthin significant overall differences by ART regimen.

The protease inhibitor (PI) treatment group showed significant levels of three antioxidants comapred to other three ART groups combined.

In other words, the protease inhibitor (PI) blocked the HIV replication for the production of infectious viral particles by exerting a significant antioxidant effect against oxidative stress levels in HIV-positive IDUs.

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Based on the findings, researchers said, "circulating levels of lycopene, a biomarker of tomato-rich food, may play a role in early stages of atherogenesis and may have clinical and public health relevance".

Taken altogether, lycopene found in tomato combined with the conventional medicine may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of HIV infection, pending on the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of lycopene in the form of supplement should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) The potential role of lycopene for human health by Gerster H. (PubMed)
(2) Improved antioxidant status among HIV-infected injecting drug users on potent antiretroviral therapy by Tang AM1, Smit E, Semba RD, Shah N, Lyles CM, Li D, Vlahov D. (PubMed)