AIDS: Nutritional health in HIV-infected patients is critical because it optimizes existing immune system function, can help reduce the incidence of complications of HIV disease, reduces the overall cost of medical care, helps achieve maximum benefit from drug therapies, and improves the patient's quality of life. The following areas of nutrition relative to HIV disease are discussed: nutrition and the immune system; malnutrition and cost of medical care; the immune system; nutritional status and immune function; the effects of HIV disease on nutritional status; and the nutritional management of HIV disease. It is advised that, in order to be most cost-effective and have the greatest benefits, nutritional intervention should begin at the time of HIV disease diagnosis and continue throughout the disease process. Nutritional therapeutic options include nutrition education and counseling, oral supplements and, when necessary, appetite stimulants, anabolic agents and enteral or parenteral nutrition.