Cape Town — Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang yesterday defended controversial vitamin proponent Dr Matthias Rath, saying his US-based Rath Foundation supported government's views on the importance of micronutrients in combating HIV/AIDS.

Rath's foundation claimed in recent newspaper advertisements and flyers that vitamins and nutrition therapy alone could prevent AIDS deaths, and that antiretroviral medicines were toxic.

"They (the foundation) are not undermining government's position. If anything they are supporting it. Our own programme talks about vitamins and micronutrients," the health minister said in an interview with Business Day.

Last week the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations issued a statement condemning Rath's claims, saying they were "wrong and misleading".

The Advertising Standards Authority found that Rath's advertisements in SA made false claims and ordered their withdrawal last month.

Speaking from Durban, where she is attending a WHO meeting on nutrition and HIV/AIDS, Tshabalala-Msimang conceded that South Africans infected with HIV were exposed to a confusing chorus of medical claims from businesses selling vitamins and nutritional supplements.

She declined to be drawn on what steps, if any, her department was taking to rein in businesses making unfounded claims about the benefits such products can have on health.

About 5,6-million South Africans are infected with HIV, according to government figures.

When asked to clarify her department's position on the relative role of nutrition, vitamin supplements and antiretroviral medicines in combating HIV, she said good nutrition was the foundation for combating disease, including HIV/AIDS.

"If you eat properly you can delay the onset of AIDS - in some cases indefinitely," she said.

"As you know, once you start (taking antiretroviral medicines) you are on them for life. If you can delay starting, it's all the better in my view."

The WHO is hosting a four-day meeting in Durban as part of its efforts to develop a global strategy on nutrition and HIV.

Although there is wide agreement that a good diet strengthens the immune system, there is no consensus on the impact of vitamin and mineral supplements on the progression of HIV.

There is also limited scientific research on the impact of herbal and traditional medicines on HIV and their interactions with AIDS drugs.

The Durban meeting will produce a consensus statement and recommendations for immediate actions to improve the nutrition and health of HIV-infected people in southern and east Africa.