Department of Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Afr Health Sci. 2022 Jun;22(2):1-11. doi: 10.4314/ahs.v22i2.2.
Moringa oleifera Lam. is known to be of high nutritional and medicinal importance and has been demonstrated to possess a variety of biological activities.
This study investigated the beneficial role of (moringa) supplementation in HIV positive subjects receiving antiretroviral drugs.
Adult HIV positive individuals (104) attending the medical outpatient clinic in a tertiary health institution in Nigeria receiving highly active anti-retroviral therapies (HAARTs) were recruited in a randomized fashion for the study. Half of the subjects received moringa supplement (20 mg daily) additionally, while the others received only HAART and represented the control group. All subjects were monitored for 3 months during which their immunological status (CD4 counts and TNF-α), and hematological abnormalities at pre (baseline) and post study periods were determined.
Baseline levels of CD4 increased while TNF-α decreased significantly in control and moringa supplemented groups (p < 0.01). However, the post study CD4 values in the moringa group were higher and TNF-α values were lower compared to the control group (p < 0.01). In addition, baseline hematological abnormalities (anemia, thrombocytopenia, leucopenia, lymphopenia, and neutropenia) were improved but most significantly in the moringa supplemented subjects.
The results suggest that moringa has immune-beneficial properties and improved hematological abnormalities in HIV positive individuals receiving antiretroviral therapy.
辣木（Moringa oleifera Lam.）被认为具有很高的营养价值和药用价值，已被证明具有多种生物活性。
本研究探讨了辣木补充剂在接受抗逆转录病毒药物治疗的 HIV 阳性患者中的有益作用。
采用随机方法招募了在尼日利亚一家三级医疗机构的医学门诊接受高效抗逆转录病毒疗法（HAART）的 104 名成年 HIV 阳性个体参加这项研究。其中一半的受试者额外接受辣木补充剂（每天 20 毫克），而另一半则仅接受 HAART，作为对照组。所有受试者在 3 个月的监测期间接受监测，在此期间，他们的免疫状态（CD4 计数和 TNF-α）以及研究前后的血液学异常情况均得到了确定。
对照组和辣木补充组的 CD4 基线水平升高，TNF-α显著降低（p<0.01）。然而，与对照组相比，辣木组的研究后 CD4 值更高，TNF-α值更低（p<0.01）。此外，基线血液学异常（贫血、血小板减少症、白细胞减少症、淋巴细胞减少症和中性粒细胞减少症）得到改善，而在接受辣木补充剂的受试者中改善最为明显。
研究结果表明，辣木具有免疫有益特性，并改善了接受抗逆转录病毒治疗的 HIV 阳性个体的血液学异常。
