HIV and hyperlipidemia: current recommendations and treatment.

In recent years, CVD risk factors have been recognized among individuals living with HIV/AIDS (Dube et al., 2003) and have been associated with the medication regimen (HAART) used to manage the diseases. A specific class of HIV medication, protease inhibitors, has been implicated in elevating serum levels of triglyceride and cholesterol in treated individuals (Green, 2002; Penzak & Chuck, 2000). However, current treatments for hyperlipidemia in HIV are not always effective and can be dose-limited due to interactions with HAART regimens (Currier, 2002). Dietary guidelines by the NCEP have been recommended as the first-line approach to managing this condition. Well-controlled studies are needed to test the effectiveness of the NCEP diet on HIV-positive individuals. Published studies have focused primarily on dietary counseling and have lacked randomization, control groups, and adequate description of the counseling intervention. Because the mechanism associated with dyslipidemia and HAART is not fully understood, rigorously controlled dietary studies may provide the opportunity to investigate how diet metabolically affects lipid levels during HAART treatment.