A DAILY dose of multivitamins and minerals in the early stages of HIV infection can delay the disease's progression by as much as 54 per cent in people who are not receiving antiretroviral drugs, a US study reveals.

Researchers from Florida International University (FIU) and Harvard University followed 878 HIV-infected patients in Botswana and tracked the progression of their disease for two years, finding that patients who received daily supplements of vitamins B, C and E plus selenium had a lower risk of depleting the number of immune response cells in their bodies.

The supplements also reduced the risk of other measures of disease progression, including AIDS symptoms and AIDS-related deaths, of which there were four in the study group.

Vitamins B, C and E are essential for maintaining a responsive immune system, and selenium may play an important role in preventing HIV replication, said FIU professor of dietetics Marianna Baum, the study's lead investigator.

"The disease impacts metabolism and increases the requirement for vitamins and minerals and if people don't take additional vitamins and minerals they become deficient, which in turn impacts immunity," Professor Baum said.

She said the findings were significant in countries such as Botswana, where HIV-infection rates were among the world's highest and healthcare systems struggled to provide antiretroviral medications to low-income populations.

Over-the-counter multivitamins and minerals, Professor Baum said, were "a low-cost alternative" and easily accessible therapy that proved safe and effective in delaying HIV progression.

Patients participating in the study received three to five times the recommended daily amounts of the vitamins, and about 200 micrograms of selenium every day.

The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.