Mega-doses of vitamins *hurt* HIV patients  An outcome some of
you might expect, but for reasons you probably dont expect–  Let
me tell you the punchline first:  Effect of High-Dose vs
Standard-Dose Multivitamin Supplementation at the Initiation of
HAART on HIV Disease Progression and Mortality in Tanzania, A
Randomized Controlled Trial  Scientists had a pool of patients
(over 3000) with HIV infection, who were prescribed HAART.  They
divided that group into two– One group got a multivitamin, and
one group got a ‘high-dose’ multivitamin.  Part way through the
study, they had to shut it down, because the patients on the
‘high-dose’ had elevated levels of ALT, read: liver damage.
Some of you might be reacting this way to this paper:   That was
my reaction too, until I thought about it from a different
perspective.  The patient population in this study was from
Tanzania.  A bit of Googling turned up the stats that 30-40% of
the Tanzanian population is undernourished, with a Global Hunger
Index in the ‘alarming’