HEALTH-CUBA: Mango Used in HIV/AIDS Treatment

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg - Tierramérica*

HAVANA, Oct 3 2002 (IPS) - Vimang, a product made in Cuba from an extract of the bark from certain varieties of mango tree, is improving the quality of life of people with HIV/AIDS and could turn into an effective complement to antiretroviral treatments, says a study conducted by a group of Cuban scientific and medical organisations.

The new report summarises the findings of investigations conducted in 2001 involving volunteer patients, and concludes that the Vimang formula, already proven to fight oxidant stress, is effective in reducing the physical deterioration that tends to become chronic in persons with AIDS.

The natural process of oxidation becomes oxidant stress when it reaches the rate of producing what are known as "free radicals" (highly reactive molecules with an unpaired electron), or other oxidant substances, which reduce the human body’s defence systems.

This imbalance between oxidants and antioxidants in the body is linked to a wide range of health problems, including cancer, heart disease and arthritis.

In the case of AIDS, one of the most dramatic causes of oxidant stress is the loss of CD4 blood cells, a type of T-lymphocyte that plays a central role in the immune system. Its presence in the blood is an indicator of the organism’s degree of protection against disease.

"Shortly after beginning to take Vimang, my appetite improved and I have more energy," Alicia Lafernal, 43, a woman who has lived with AIDS for the last 10 years and is treated at the Santiago de las Vegas hospital near Havana, told Tierramérica.

Nobody would guess that Mariela Mendoza, 48, a nurse at the same hospital, has been HIV-positive for the last 17 years. "I continued to take the pills after the study ended because my general health improved a great deal. I feel really good," she said.

Weight increase, feeling of general well-being, more energy and greater appetite are the description repeated among the patients who took eight Vimang tablets daily for six months as part of the clinical trial.

The study assessed the use of Vimang as a nutritional supplement for patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or full-blown AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), tracking its levels for possible renal, liver and blood toxicity.

It is not an attempt to substitute the normal diet, but rather to complement it in order to help the organism recuperate the equilibrium lost as a result of disease, explained Lizette Gil, a biochemist at the Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine, which specialises in HIV/AIDS research for treatment.

"We are attempting to stabilise the metabolic disturbances, the process of oxidant stress that is not controlled by any currently available therapy," Gil told Tierramérica.

In an initial stage, when the CD4 cell count of the patient is above 350 per cubic mm of blood, the treatment is based on vitamin and nutritional supplements, in which Vimang can play an important role, says Alejandro Alvarez, a doctor at the Institute.

As AIDS advances, causing the CD4 cell count to fall below 350, treatment with antiretrovirals begins, because they reduce the presence of the virus (HIV) in the organism, added Alvarez.

People with full-blown AIDS in Cuba have been treated using this approach for the last two years. "The global use of antiretrovirals has prolonged the life of the patient, but has not eliminated the collateral effects that harm the quality of the patient’s life," explained Gil.

That is where Vimang has proven to be useful.

The mango-based product may also have an indirect impact that slows the replication of the virus. Scientists are preparing a new investigation, this time to last one year and with 350 volunteer patients, to determine Vimang’s effect on HIV.

The product could ultimately form part of the treatment that all Cubans with HIV/AIDS receive.

Manufactured by Cuba’s government-run Pharmaceutical Chemistry Centre, Vimang has proven effective as an immune system modulator, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antispasmodic.

Although for now it is sold only in some pharmacies on this Caribbean island, it is also used in treating cancer, infertility and lupus.

* Tierramérica is a specialised news service (www.tierramerica.net) produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme.