Does fasting cure AIDS? No, that's not true: Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.N.'s UNAIDS organization told Lead Stories there is no cure to HIV/AIDS. However, with proper medical care, the virus can be controlled and people living with the virus can live long and healthy lives.
The claim appeared on TikTok (archived here) on April 22, 2023, with the on-screen text, "FASTING CURES EVERYTHING." It opened:
You guys need to watch this video clip I'm about to share with you.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Apr 27 17:43:45 2023 UTC)
The narrator of the video makes the claim that fasting "will literally cure everything -- cures cancer, AIDS, herpes, everything single thing you can think of." He says fasting lets the body activate the growth hormone, which, in turn, creates new stem cells that will repair damaged stem cells.
Lead Stories previously debunked the claim that fasting cures cancer, here and here. This fact check focuses on the claim that fasting can cure AIDS.
Charlotte Sector, a communications manager for UNAIDS -- a sector of the United Nations focused on ending AIDS by 2030 -- told Lead Stories in an April 27, 2023, email that "fasting does not cure HIV or AIDS." She continued:
There is no cure for HIV and no vaccine; however, antiretroviral therapy (ARVs) when taken daily reduces HIV in the body. People living with HIV taking their treatment live long, healthy lives.
Belsie González, a public affairs specialist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), also told Lead Stories that there is no cure for HIV in a April 27, 2023, email:
There is currently no effective cure. Once people get HIV, they have it for life. But with proper medical care, HIV can be controlled. People with HIV who get effective HIV treatment can live long, healthy lives and protect their partners.
HIV is the virus that attacks the immune system and can become AIDS if the virus goes untreated. More information on HIV from the CDC can be found here.
