SEBAGAI RAWATAN HIV AIDS

Pact Signed to Test Coco Oil for AIDS Treatment

Feb. 18, 1999, Manila - The official agreement covering the first clinical tests using coconut oil and its fatty acid, monolaurin, to treat HIV/AIDS patients has been signed. The memorandum of understanding among the three agencies doing the clinical tests - the Philippine Coconut Research and Development Foundation (PCRDF), United Laboratories and the San Lazaro Hospital - was signed yesterday, making possible the first medical research in the Philippines against AIDS.
PCRDF Chairman Maria Clara Lobregat told reporters that government will not spend a single centavo with this trial, and it will determine the efficacy of coconut chemicals. Health Secretary Alberto Romualdez said the trial needs approval and protocol, and institutional ethics review board will assess issues on using human subjects for research purposes. He welcomed the fact that the government will not shoulder the expenses for the tests. "It is very expensive, but since the DOH does not have that kind of money and the private sector does, then we can ask patients to participate," he said.

The tests involve 15 Filipino patients: 12 females and three males in the early stages of HIV infection. Tayag said the trial seeks to achieve what experts in the United States have found out in research - - that coconut chemicals increase the CD4 cell count and lower the viral load of HIV patients to undetectable levels. Dr. Eric Tayag, chief epidemiologist of the hospital, said the CD4 cells are the body's first line of defense against infection and disease, but they are also the first to be attacked by the HIV. The viral load is the amount of the virus in the blood. It will cost the 15 patients P300,000 each in coconut oil and monolaurin capsules, but he said this will not cost the hospital anything.

Dr. Conrado Dayrit, president of the National Academy of Science and Technology and a member of the PCRDF board, explained that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has a fatty envelop, and monolaurin can penetrate and dismember this envelop rapidly when ingested. Monolaurin is a substance derived from lauric acid, a component of the coconut. It is the most important and most effective component of coconut oil. "It disrupts the membrane coating the envelop by softening it first. If this happens, the virus will die," he said.

The PCRDF is funding the trial, but United Laboratories will receive the technology of processing the monolaurin capsules. (Philippine Headline News Online)

NEJM: AZT may harm fetus unnecessarily in HIV-positive pregnant women

December 1, 1999, lauric.org - Ioannidis and Contopoulos-Ioannidis note in their Nov. 25 1999 NEJM letter to the editor that the study by Mofenson et al (August 5, 1999 NEJM) on perinatal transmission of HIV in women treated with zidovudine (AZT), did not support the concluding statement by Mofenson et al that antiretroviral therapy "should be recommended to all infected pregnant women regardless of their HIV-1 RNA levels". The authors also report that they have extended the results of Garcia et al (NEJM Aug 5 1999) on the predictive value of viral load to 10 studies and noted that in women with low viral loads (below 1000 copies per milliliter) there are no lower rates of transmission with treatment with AZT as opposed to no treatment. Although both Mofenson et al and Garcia et al agree that comments by Ioannidis and Contopoulos-Ioannidis are correct, they nevertheless support the use of AZT to reduce the risk of transmission of HIV-1 or other treatment regimens for those women who do not wish to expose the fetus to antiretroviral drugs during pregnancy. For women who elect the latter course, Lauric.org continues to suggest the safe and effective adjunct dietary supplementation with sources of lauric acid and capric acid, which are known for their effectiveness in significantly lowering viral loads.

Comments on JAMA Report: Reducing Viral Loads in Breastfeeding Mothers Lowers Transmission Rate

August 27, 1999, lauric.org - Miotti and colleagues, JAMA August 25, 1999 report the results of a study measuring "HIV Transmission Through Breastfeeding." They conclude that the risk of transmission is greatest in the early months of breastfeeding. The cumulative rates were 3.5%, 7.0%, 8.9%, and 10.3% at the end of months 5, 11, 17, and 23 respectively. The incidence per month was reported as 0.7% during the period from age 1 to 5 months, 0.6% during the period from age 6 to 11 months, and 0.3% during age 12 to 17 months. The significance for the trend was P=.01. Lauric.org notes that the inclusion of a source of lauric acid to the diets of the breastfeeding HIV positive mothers would help to lower the level of virus in their milk and thus could help to lower the rate of transmission in populations such as these mothers in Malawi where breastfeeding is important for survival of the infant. Adding a functional food such as coconut to the mother’s diet would be beneficial because it would provide increased lauric and capric acid in mother's milk.

Lauric.org: Mother-Infant HIV Transmission Could Be Reduced through Viral Lowering with Lauric and Capric Acid

August 6, 1999, lauric.org - Garcia et al, (New England Journal of Medicine August 5, 1999;341:394-402) have reported that the maternal plasma HIV-1 RNA levels (viral load) are predictive of the risk of perinatal transmission, although not of the timing of that transmission. This report is from The Women and Infants Transmission Study, an ongoing multicenter, prospective study of the perinatal transmission of HIV-1 and the natural history of HIV-1 infection in pregnant women and their infants.
The study included women who were treated with zidovudine and those who were not. With an increasing geometric mean of the levels of plasma HIV-1 RNA levels (viral load) there was an increasing rate of transmission from mother to infant up to levels exceeding 100,000 copies of virus per milliliter (mL). When the maternal level was less that 1000 copies of virus per mL (0 of 57 women), the rate was zero percent; when the level was between 1000 and 10,000 copies per mL (32 of 193 women), the rate was 16.6 percent; when the level was between 10,001 and 50,000 copies per mL (39 of 183 women), the rate was 21.3 percent; when the level was 50,001 to 100,000 copies per mL (17 of 54 women), the rate was 30.9 percent; and when the level was greater than 100,000 copies per mL (26 of 64 women), the rate was 40.6 percent.

The highest rate was 63.3 percent for women who had levels of virus greater than 100,000 and who had not received zidovudine. However, for women whose levels were between 50,000 and 100,000, the rate of vertical transmission was the same whether they received zidovudine (31.2 percent) or did not received zidovudine (31.6 percent).

Lauric.org believes that this research reinforces the comments from an earlier response by lauric.org. Monolaurin, the monoglyceride of lauric acid, destroys the HIV-1 virus. If HIV-1-infected pregnant women were given a source of lauric acid during pregnancy, there could be additional lowering of viral load, which could be helpful in preventing vertical transmission of the virus.

Further, those infants who acquire HIV-1 infection by vertical transmission from their HIV-1-infected mothers are candidates for the adjunct antiviral nutritional support from lauric fats in their infant formula. Since the current medical recommendations prevent these infants from receiving human milk from their HIV-1-infected mothers, they need to be given infant formulas. There was a time when most of the infant formulas in the United States could be counted on to have a source of lauric acid and capric acid in their formulation to match that found in human milk. This is no longer true for many of the infant formulas. Additionally, older HIV-1-infected children, who consume regular diets, could benefit from a source of lauric acid such as desiccated coconut or coconut milk products.

Lauric.org Notes Dual Importance Regarding CMV and HIV

July 7, 1999, lauric.org - Kovacs, et al (N Engl J Med. July 8, 1999;341:77-84) have reported from a prospective study that infants born to HIV-1-infected mothers who are found to also be HIV-1-infected are at greater risk for the development of cytomegalovirus (CMV) and for HIV-1 disease progression than are those infants born to HIV-1-infected mothers but who are not themselves HIV-1-infected.
The researchers concluded that "HIV-1-infected infants who acquire CMV infection in the first 18 months of life have a significantly higher rate of disease progression and central nervous system disease than those infected with HIV-1 alone." Further, among those infants who are HIV-1-infected, the infants who develop CMV continue to have a higher rate of CMV and more severe disease at four years of age.

Infants who are HIV-1-infected have a higher rate of CMV infection at 6 months than those who are not HIV-1-infected (39.9 vs 15.3 percent). At age 18 months, those infants who are HIV-1-infected and who also have CMV infection have higher rates of HIV-1 disease progression (70.0 percent) than those who are only HIV-1-infected (30.4 percent). In those children who were only HIV-1-infected, rapid progression of HIV-1 disease was related to their having higher levels of virus (i.e., higher viral load).

Monolaurin, the monoglyceride of lauric acid, destroys CMV, as well as other herpes viruses and HIV-1. If HIV-1-infected pregnant women were given a source of lauric acid during pregnancy, there could be additional lowering of viral load, which could be helpful in preventing vertical transmission of the virus.

Further, those infants who acquire HIV-1 infection by vertical transmission from their HIV-1-infected mothers are candidates for the adjunct antiviral nutritional support from lauric fats in their infant formula. Since the current medical recommendations prevent these infants from receiving human milk from their HIV-1-infected mothers, they need to be given infant formulas. There was a time when most of the infant formulas in the United States could be counted on to have a source of lauric acid and capric acid in their formulation to match that found in human milk. This is no longer true for many of the infant formulas.

The older HIV-1-infected children, who consume regular foods, could benefit from a source of lauric acid such as desiccated coconut products.

Lauric.org Comments on Icelandic HIV Research

July 1, 1999, lauric.org - Dr. Halldor Thormar, the Icelandic scientist, who previously showed that monolaurin, which comes from the fat in coconut, kills lipid coated DNA and RNA viruses including HIV and herpes viruses as well as other microorganisms including gram positive bacteria has just announced the potential effectiveness of monocaprin dissolved in a gel in killing HIV. Monocaprin also comes from the fat in coconut in the form of capric acid (C:10). Thormar and his colleagues plan to continue the tests with monocaprin against chlamydia and herpes simplex virus.

Lauric.org Responds to FDA Ban on DHA

June 1, 1999, lauric.org - Several fatty acids are very important for health and development. Among them are lauric acid and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). These two fatty acids are found in human milk from lactating mothers. Lauric acid is the medium-chain fatty acids used by the infant to make antimicrobial monoglycerides to keep the infant from getting infections. DHA is a long-chain omega-3 fatty acid that is absolutely essential for proper brain development in the infant, and for healthy vision. Children and adults also need a source of both lauric acid and DHA. Lauric acid can only be obtained through foods and the best source in the United States is coconut including sulfite-free desiccated coconut. Children and adults can make their own DHA if they have adequate dietary consumption of the precursor to DHA, which is alpha-linolenic acid, and if they also don’t have too much omega-6 vegetable oils or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (trans fatty acids) in their regular diets. The best source of preformed DHA is cod liver oil and fatty fish such as salmon, sardines, and mackerel. (Copyright 1999 lauric.org)