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Summary

  • If your normal diet is balanced, this should be sufficient to meet your nutritional requirements – HIV alone rarely means that people have to make major changes to their diet.
  • People with HIV rarely need to take special nutritional supplements, some of which can be harmful or stop HIV drugs working properly.
  • Eating a balanced diet, and maintaining a healthy weight can keep you well and help reduce the risk of illnesses such as cardiovascular disease or diabetes.
  • Like everyone else, you should take care with food and water safety to avoid picking up infections, particularly if your CD4 count is low.
  • HIV treatment is becoming easier to take. But some anti-HIV drugs have special dietary requirements – these should be explained to you when you start or change treatment.
  • It is important to continue to eat and drink properly even if you experience side-effects or are ill because of HIV – a dietitian may be able to help.
This content was checked for accuracy at the time it was written. It may have been superseded by more recent developments. NAM recommends checking whether this is the most current information when making decisions that may affect your health.