Los Angeles Times (03.11.02):Thomas H. Maugh, II
”There have been no major breakthroughs in AIDS therapies since the development of protease inhibitors six years ago. And with current therapies bedeviled by serious side effects and growing viral resistance, hopes are fading for a major advance. This was very apparent at the Ninth Retrovirus Conference in Seattle last month. ‘It's becoming more and more difficult to make a major breakthrough’ in AIDS research, said Raymond Schinazi of Emory University in Atlanta. ‘All the easy stuff has already been done.’ “ 

“As people live longer, new complications emerge and become apparent. Paramount among them are side effects caused by the drugs themselves, ranging from simple nausea and lethargy to abnormal fat distribution, high cholesterol levels, diabetes and, perhaps, an increased risk of heart attacks.”

“According to Dr. Jens D. Lundgren of the EuroSIDA Coordinating Office in Denmark, a 25-country study of AIDS treatment regimens found that 16 percent of the 3,610 patients studied have stopped taking their drugs due to side effects.“



COMMON TERMS

A drug “side effect” is defined as: “Adverse effect/reaction or any undesirable effect of a drug.” Such effects are due to extension of drug action OR to an interaction between the drug and other entities such as other drugs, “natural” products, vitamin or mineral supplements or enteral products. Among these interactions are food-drug interactions. 

The terms drug-nutrient interactions and food-drug interactions are often used interchangeably. In actuality, drug-nutrient interactions are some of the many possible food-drug interactions. Drug-nutrient interactions include specific changes to the pharmacokinetics of a drug caused by a nutrient(s) or changes to the kinetics of a nutrient(s) caused by a drug. Food-Drug Interactions is a broader term, which also includes the effect of a medication on nutritional status. Nutritional status may be impacted by the “side effects” of a medication, which affect appetite or the ability to eat.