Here are Five Supplements You Should Not Take if You Have HIV

1. Colloidal silver
It's become a popular fad but the FDA doesn’t consider it to be safe. Among its many (sometimes serious) side effects is argyria, an irreversible bluish discoloration of the skin. Nobody wants to look like a sick Smurf.

2. Saint-John’s-wort  
A study conducted by the National Institutes of Health showed this herb has negative interactions with both protease inhibitors and nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. The Food and Drug Administration also recommends that Saint-John’s-wort not be combined with any type of antiretroviral medication. It interacts with plenty of other meds too.

3. Sutherlandia
Many traditional healers in southern and western Africa give people with HIV Sutherlandia, derived from a native bush, to treat HIV, and you'll see plenty of spam ads about this as an "HIV cure." Sadly, studies have shown it doesn't work and it puts users at risk of treatment failure, viral resistance, or drug toxicity.

4. Manganese
Studies from over a decade ago showed that increasing manganese in cells can decrease HIV’s ability to replicate, but since then there’s been little further research and no evidence that dietary manganese has any effect on HIV.

5. Selenium
Some studies suggest that HIV needs selenium in order to reproduce, something you definitely don't want. Add that to the fact that most of us get more than enough selenium in our food and there’s no reason to take this supplement.