The highly active antiretroviral therapy used against Human Immunodeficiency Virus provides an improvement in laboratory and clinical findings of patients with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. However, metabolic and morphologic disturbances associated with the therapy are being investigated. The drawn out use of these therapy has an important impact on the nutritional status of the patients. Before the use of this therapy, weight loss and malnutrition caused by opportunistic infections were the biggest nutritional problems. Nowadays the main discussion points are the resulting metabolic and morphologic complications, among them lipodystrophy with dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, osteopenia and altered distribution of body fat, thus increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Nutrition plays an essential role in supporting the health of these patients, integrating the multidisciplinary teams, improving antiretroviral therapy adherence rates and disease prognosis. However, in order to better understand the therapy, the side effect rates and the nutritional profile of these patients on the short and long run, it is vital to study this subject more deeply to obtain perspectives of a safer therapeutic regimen within its methodological scope, improving the quality of life of these patients.
Lipodystrophy; Nutrition; Antiretroviral therapy, highly active