Food consumption and cardiovascular risk in children and adolescents living with HIV: a systematic review

The aim of this systematic review was to summarize the dietary intake of children and adolescents living with HIV and its association with cardiovascular risk factors. PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, BIREME and LILACS were searched for original observational studies. The studies were extracted between June and August 2021, in addition to a manual search of references. Twelve studies involving 1,805 participants aged 6.5 to 17.3 years were included. An association between energy intake, low sugar and fat intake and the presence of lipodystrophy syndrome was reported in 1 of the 12 (8.3%) studies, between fat intake and plasma lipid levels in 1 (8.3%), and between low fiber intake and high z-scores for BMI in 1 (8.3%); there was a positive correlation between cholesterol intake and plasma triglyceride levels in 1 study (8.3%). In conclusion, a dietary pattern of low consumption of fruits and vegetables was identified, but few studies have reported associations between dietary intake and cardiovascular risk factors. Thus, there is a need for nutritional guidance strategies aimed at changing inappropriate eating habits in order to reduce cardiovascular risk factors in this population.