insulin. Many patients who are HIV-infected and also have diabetes may be treated with metformin. It has been available in the US for a couple of decades.
Two research teams identified actions of metformin, separate from its actions in diabetes, that may help with HIV disease. The researchers found that at a dose of 850 mg of metformin twice a day, a number of benefits were observed which included less inflammation in the intestines (a common feature of HIV disease), fewer lymphocytes entering the intestines and other changes in blood cells that reduce the chance of them being infected by the virus.
It will be interesting to see if these effects lead to long term benefits in HIV patients. The patients who were in this study were HIV infected but did not have diabetes.
Probiotics
A couple of studies show some positive effects of probiotics in HIV disease. In an article I wrote, HIV and the Gut Microbiome: Prebiotics and Probiotics, I described a phenomenon where HIV causes gut damage and gut bacteria can slowly leak into the bloodstream causing inflammation ( a process we call microbial translocation). In one study use of probiotics decreased the number of cells related to gut damage and improved the diversity of bacteria in the gut.
In another study, 2 sachets of a probiotic product called Vivomaxx taken daily lead to