Question
Shall I use astragalus?
14 December 2008. Related: All topics, Supplements and herbs.
I would like to start saying thank you for this fantastic website. It keeps me informed of the latest treatments, it gives me hope for my future and it always helps me to find answers when required, guiding me through this journey of living with HIV.
I have read about this herb called Astragalus which apparently has been discovered recently to increase the number of CD4 cells and also that green tea does helps to boost the immune system too. I have found that any health shops do actually sell both of these pills over the counter (herbal).
Is it safe to take them while on medication? I have been told to avoid Echinacea but neither of the above.
Thanks again!
Answer
Thank you for the nice words.
There isn’t a single clinical study to prove the effect of astragalus in HIV infection. A very good overview article is published here.
A particularly important part of it is the following: ‘Another use of astragalus root in the United States is in the treatment of HIV infection. It may help reduce opportunistic infections, but such use depends on a host-mediated response because the aqueous extract of astragalus has no direct effect on viral infectivity and little effect on viral reverse transcriptase. Which comes to say that it may help, but most probably it will not, and definitely not when it comes to controlling the virus.
Green tea is generally good, as it is a very good antioxidant and it will help a lot your whole body and particularly your liver function.
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