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<3571656DEC883442BB9A40C741F41EEFF50E26@excmail.medunsa.ac.za>
From: "RD. Kennedy" <rkennedy@medunsa.ac.za>
To: <pronut-hiv@healthnet.org>
Subject: [pronut-hiv] Opinion on "An Eccentric Diet for PLWHA"
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Opinion on "An Eccentric Diet for PLWHA"
--------------------------------------

It is a sad day for science and the South African health scene when
someone with only 9 months of experience in nursing can pick some
whimsical material from the internet and convince the Minister of Health
to be an expert in nutrition in the area of HIV/AIDS. The sort of
nutrition claims made are highly unscientific and lack any reasonable
evidence base. 

This sort of anecdotal reporting should be seen for what it is. It is
highly irresponsible in our context where many people lack basic reading
skills, are desperately looking for results, and are extremely gullible.

South African has the richest resource of registered nutrition
professionals on the African content and it is about time that the
Ministry of Health harness this capacity more efficiently in an
evidence-based approach to nutritional care for people living with
HIV/AIDS.

Roy Kennedy
MNutr RD(SA) 
-------------------------------------------
Kristof Nordin wrote: 


 "I've seen the results with my own eyes. There's no doubt in my mind
that it works."
 Former nurse, S. African health minister defend eccentric AIDS diet

 Agence France-Presse - February 27, 2004
 ENGLISH: http://www.aegis.org/news/afp/2004/AF0402A0.html
 FRENCH: http://www.aegis.org/news/afp/2004/AF0402A0_FR.html
 ***

 JOHANNESBURG, Feb 27 (AFP) - A former nurse who claims she inspired
South Africa's Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang's prescription
of an eccentric diet for HIV/AIDS sufferers told a leading daily on
Friday that she was no quack.

Tine van der Maas - who was a nurse for nine months 15 years ago and
then conjured up a controversial diet of beetroot, spinach, garlic, and
olive oil by reading books and Internet articles - told The Star daily
she was ready to face the consequences if she was proved to be a fraud.

 "You don't need anti-retrovirals if you are eating these foods," van
der Maas said.

 "I'm not a quack. If I am, expose me and put me in jail and lock me up.
I would be giving people false hopes, and that is the most horrendous
thing to do."

 Van der Maas said some 42,000 people followed her diet and claimed she
had the blessing of the health minister.

 "She's (the health minister) always quoting me the whole time," van der
Maas said.

 The diet consists of a blended or grated lemon mixed with olive oil and
water, crushed garlic, small pieces of ginger, spinach, beetroot,vitamin
supplements and extracts from the African potato.

The Star on Friday quoted Tshabalala-Msimang, a qualified medical
doctor, as saying that she had met more than 100 patients "who have got
up and
walked" after following van der Maas' diet.

 "Nobody is saying that this diet cures HIV. All we are saying is that
it boosts the immune system. I've seen the results with my own eyes.
There's no doubt in my mind that it works."

 Doctors who had been initially sceptical had "really embraced the
programme," the newspaper quoted the minister as saying.

 Two of van der Maas' patients interviewed by The Star said there had
been a marked improvement in their health.

 The UN's AIDS agency estimates that South Africa had 5.3 million people
infected with HIV and AIDS at the end of 2002 - the highest number in
the
world.

 A leading local medical journal in November slated the diet promoted by
the health minister, saying that there was no convincing evidence that
any of the foods proposed by Tshabalala-Msimang would change the way
people were affected by the illness.

 In November, South Africa's cabinet approved the outline of a plan to
provide potentially life-saving anti-retroviral drugs for those infected
with HIV/AIDS, after several court battles between the government and
AIDS lobby groups.

--
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