Calyx Juice of Hibiscus sabdariffa Linn (Malvaceae): A Possible Therapeutic Supplement to Antiretroviral Drugs

Abstract

More than three decades after its outbreak, the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) remains a great mystery because there is neither an existing vaccine against its causative agent (the human immune deficiency virus) nor a cure against it. Worst of all is the popular attention that is tuned to the AIDS virus, ignoring oxidative stress which is the major cause of mortality in HIV/AIDS as in many other chronic diseases. Antiretroviral drugs introduced in 1996 have been shown to increase oxidative stress among other drug-related complications. With these backdrops, an antioxidant therapy is necessary to accompany antiretroviral treatment without which its beneficial effects are null. The present review aims to discuss the role of Calyx juice of Hibiscus sabdariffa Linn (Malvaceae) as a possible therapeutic supplement to antiretroviral drugs.