The Academy of
Science of South Africa said Wednesday there was no
evidence that foods such as garlic and beetroot were a
substitute for AIDS medicine, disputing claims by the
country's heath minister.
The report,
confirming what other scientists worldwide have long
asserted, looked set to increase the pressure on Health
Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who has been
ridiculed for promoting foods like olive oil, garlic,
lemons, and the African potato for people with AIDS while
saying antiretroviral drugs should not be considered the
only treatment.
The minister is
also under fire over her role in the dismissal of her
respected deputy and over newspaper allegations that her
recent liver transplant may have been the result of
alcohol abuse. Recent news reports also said she was
banned from Botswana for 10 years in the 1970s after
being accused of theft at a hospital.
''The panel has
concluded that no food, no component made from food, and
no food supplement has been identified in any credible study
as an effective alternative to appropriate
medication,'' said professor Barry Mendelow, one of
the authors of the exhaustive 300-page study.
The 15-member
panel said it was apparent that healthy eating did help
slow the progression of AIDS and tuberculosis. But it
cautioned that the base of reliable evidence about the
influence of nutrition on the two diseases was
''woefully small.''
''This contrasts
dramatically with the huge cloud of often acrimonious
controversy that hangs over the subject and has become a
source of widespread concern in, and about, the
government, both within and outside the country,'' the
panel said.
Controversy about
the country's AIDS policy has raged for years, with
critics accusing the government of doing too little to slow
the epidemic, which affects an estimated 5.4 million
South Africans. An estimated 900 people die each day
of the disease in South Africa, and some 1,400 are
newly infected. A report last year warned that only half the
15-year-olds currently alive would live to celebrate
their 60th birthday.
The government in
April finalized an ambitious new plan to halve the
number of new infections by 2011 and extend treatment and
care to 80% of those in need. But AIDS activists have
voiced concern about the government's commitment to
those targets following the dismissal earlier this
month of Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge,
who was widely credited with revitalizing the AIDS
campaign.
President Thabo
Mbeki said he axed the deputy for not working as part of
a team. But Madlala-Routledge and other critics say it was
because she had fallen afoul of her 66-year-old boss,
a close friend of Mbeki's from the anti-apartheid
struggle.
Tshabalala-Msimang has attracted titles such as ''Dr.
Garlic'' and ''Dr. Beetroot'' for her ideas on AIDS
treatment.
''Raw garlic and
a skin of the lemon--not only do they give you a
beautiful face and skin, but they also protect you from
disease,'' she told a news conference in 2005. ''All I
am bombarded about is antiretrovirals,
antiretrovirals. There are other things we can be
assisted in doing to respond to HIV/AIDS in this country."
The Academy of
Science disagreed.
''One of our most
important findings has been that nutrition is important
for general health but is not sufficient to contain either
the HIV/AIDS or the tuberculosis epidemic,'' said
panel member Dan Ncayiyana, editor of the South
African Medical Journal. ''We need a well-nourished
nation. But a well-fed population on its own is not going to
resist HIV/AIDS without anti-retroviral drugs.''
The report said
there might be unknown and unrecognized substances in
edible and medicinal plants with beneficial effects.
''However, until
these suggested remedies have been proven to do more
good than harm the panel cannot support their use,'' it
said.
For example, the
report said it might be true that garlic helps
strengthen the immune system, but it pointed out that the
South African HIV Clinicians Society has warned that
garlic supplements also had side effects and that
garlic might inhibit the absorption of antiretroviral
drugs.
Other
unconventional treatment strategies identified by the
society that ''might be beneficial,'' but with a
concern that ''they could be harmful,'' included
virgin olive oil, onions, and the African potato, it
said.
Tshabalala-Msimang's spokesman could not immediately be
reached for comment on the report.
The opposition
Democratic Alliance renewed calls for Mbeki to sack the
minister.
It said the
report was ''yet another piece of evidence to contradict the
minister's highly public and extremely damaging opinion that
good nutrition is of equivalent value to
antiretrovirals in treating AIDS.'' (Clare Nullis, AP)
