Nutrition education has a positive impact on nutritional knowledge, food consumption and body composition in PLHIV: a randomized clinical trial

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has substantially increased the life expectancy of people living with HIV (PLHIV), but its prolonged use has been associated with metabolic alterations that may negatively affect nutritional status. In this context, knowledge about food and nutrition plays a crucial role in promoting healthy food choices and preventing health complications. This study aimed to assess the impact of an intervention with Nutrition education (NE) on nutritional knowledge, food consumption, energy expenditure and body composition in PLHIV. A randomized, controlled, unblinded clinical trial was conducted16 participants of both sexes. The results showed an interaction effect between time (baseline, 30 days and 60 days) and condition (intervention vs. control), with significant differences in nutritional knowledge: experimental intra-group ( p = 0.015) and between groups ( p = 0.005), both at 60 days; in food consumption between the groups ( p = 0.014) and within the control group ( p < 0.001), both at 60 days; in body fat percentage within the experimental group at 30 days ( p = 0.070) and 60 days ( p = 0.001) and; in body mass within the experimental group at 60 days ( p = 0.034). Post hoc analyses demonstrated significant between-group differencesin nutritional knowledge ( p < 0.001), food consumption ( p = 0.002), body mass ( p < 0.001) and total body fat ( p = 0.016). The NE intervention was effective in increasing nutritional knowledge, improving the frequency of consumption of foods with higuer nutritional density and reducing body mass and body fat among PLHIV after 60 days.