HIV not helped by 2,000 IU of Vitamin D (no surprise) – RCT April 2022

Cholecalciferol Supplementation Does Not Affect the Risk of HIV Progression, Viral Suppression, Comorbidities, Weight Loss, and Depression Among Tanzanian Adults Initiating Antiretroviral Therapy: Secondary Outcomes of a Randomized Trial

J Nutr. 2022 Apr 23;nxac096. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxac096 PDF is behind paywall
Alfa Muhihi 1 2, Wafaie W Fawzi 3 4 5, Said Aboud 6, Tumaini J Nagu 7, Nzovu Ulenga 1, Molin Wang 5 8 9, Ferdinand Mugusi 7, Christopher R Sudfeld 3 4

Background: Observational studies suggest that blood concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) are associated with morbidity, viral suppression, and mortality among adults living with HIV.

Objective: We evaluated the effect of cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) supplementation on the risk of HIV disease progression, HIV-1 viral suppression, comorbidities, weight change, and depression among HIV-infected individuals that were initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of vitamin D3 supplementation among 4,000 HIV-infected adult men and non-pregnant women initiating ART with insufficient serum 25(OH)D concentrations (<30 ng/mL). Participants were randomized to receive either weekly 50,000 IU doses for four weeks followed by daily 2,000 IU of vitamin D3 until 1-year or a matching placebo regimen given in weekly followed by daily doses until 1-year. Participants were followed-up at weekly visits for the first month followed by monthly visits thereafter. We conducted intention-to-treat analyses to assess the effect of vitamin D3 supplementation on the secondary trial outcomes of HIV progression or death, viral suppression, comorbidities, change in body mass index (BMI), >10% weight loss, incident wasting, and depression.
Results: During follow-up, 345 participants (17.2%) in the vitamin D3 group and 371 participants (18.6%) in the placebo group experienced HIV disease progression or death and there was no difference in risk between groups (RR: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.79-1.06). Vitamin D3 supplementation did not affect the risk of an unsuppressed HIV-1 viral load (>1000 copies/mL) after 6 months (RR: 1.10, 95% CI: 0.87-1.41) and there was also no effect on change in BMI, risk of >10% weight loss, wasting, comorbidities and depression (p-values >0.05).

Conclusions: Vitamin D supplementation did not affect the risk of HIV progression, viral suppression, common morbidities, weight-related indicators, or depression among adults initiating ART in Tanzania. The trial was registered at clinicaltrial.gov as NCT01798680.

Vitamin D Life - HIV category contains

Pregnant women in HIV therapy adding Vitamin D had 3X fewer deaths - RCT April 2022
HIV treatment augmented by high-dose vitamin D, daily or weekly – Dec 2021
Low vitamin D with HIV increases risk of infections – TB by 3.5X, CMV by 10.1X – Aug 2020
HIV therapy reduces Vitamin D levels, supplementation helps - Nov 2019
Cognitive problems 2X more likely if HIV and low vitamin D – June 2019
Use of Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (Hepatitis-B, AIDS) requires more vitamin D – Sept 2018
Vertebral fractures 9X more likely in HIV patients having low vitamin D – Dec 2017
HIV patients helped by monthly 120,000 IU of Vitamin D – RCT Oct 2017
Those with HIV who doubled their vitamin D levels reduced their chance of death by 47 percent – Oct 2013
A gut-friendly form of vitamin D should be used for those with HIV and gut problems
   Alternately, just use 2X to 3X more vitamin D than for a person who has a good gut
3X more African girls and women have HIV than African males Washington Post Dec 2023
  Note: Many women have lower vitamin D levels than men due to hormones and not being outdoors as much
  In addition, dark-skinned women often avoid the sun due to a desire to have a lighter skin shade

To help, Vitamin D needs higher doses and often non-daily

Items in both categories HIV and Non-daily intervention are listed here: