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Your diet and anti-HIV drugs

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Choosing your treatment

Choosing a drug combination that you can fit into your existing eating habits is usually easier than trying to adjust your eating habits to fit the drugs.

There are some simple things you can do to help you take your drugs on time, and you can find out more about these in NAM’s booklet Adherence & resistance. You can also talk to your healthcare team or an HIV support organisation if you would like more help with taking your treatment in the right way.

Anti-HIV drugs are becoming easier to take and many drugs do not have any special food requirements – you can take them with or without food. But some drug combinations may require one of the following:

  • Taking your drugs with food.
  • Taking your drugs on an empty stomach.

Interactions between drugs and food

The following is an overview of dietary requirements for currently available HIV drugs. When you are prescribed a new drug you should be given written information about how to take it, including information about dietary restrictions. Ask your doctor, pharmacist or dietitian if you would like any further information about your diet and HIV drugs.

Nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs/NtRTI)

 

Food requirements

Liquid requirements

3TC (lamivudine, Epivir)

May be taken with or without food.

No special requirements.

abacavir (Ziagen)

May be taken with or without food.

No special requirements.

AZT (zidovudine, Retrovir)

May be taken with or without food, though taking with food may reduce nausea.

No special requirements.

d4T (stavudine, Zerit, now rarely used)  

May be taken with or without food.

No special requirements.  

Enteric-coated ddI (Videx EC, didanosine capsules, now rarely used)

 

Essential to take on an empty stomach, at least two hours before and two hours after eating or drinking anything except water.

Cold water recommended.

FTC (emtricitabine, Emtriva)

May be taken with or without food.

No special requirements.

tenofovir (Viread)

Take with food.

No special requirements.

Combination pills

 

Food requirements

Liquid requirements

Atripla (efavirenz, FTC and tenofovir combined)

Take on an empty stomach (preferably at bedtime), to reduce the incidence of side-effects (particularly avoid taking it soon after a high-fat meal as this increases the risk of side-effects).

No special requirements.

Combivir  (AZT, 3TC combined)

May be taken with or without food, although taking with food may reduce nausea.

No special requirements.

Kivexa  (3TC, abacavir combined)

May be taken with or without food, although taking with food may reduce nausea.

No special requirements.

Trizivir (AZT, 3TC, abacavir combined)

May be taken with or without food.

No special requirements.

Truvada (tenofovir, FTC combined)

Take with food.

No special requirements.

Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs)

 

Food requirements

Liquid requirements

efavirenz (Sustiva)

Take on an empty stomach (preferably at bedtime), to reduce the incidence of side-effects (particularly avoid taking it soon after a high-fat meal as this increases the risk of side-effects).

No special requirements.

etravirine (Intelence)

Take with or after food (within two hours after a main meal or within half an hour after a snack).

No special requirements.

nevirapine (Viramune)

Take with or without food.

No special requirements.

Protease inhibitors

 

Food requirements

Liquid requirements

atazanavir (Reyataz)

Take with or after food (within two hours after a main meal or within half an hour after a snack).

No special requirements.

darunavir (Prezista) (always taken with ritonavir)

Take with or after food (within two hours after a main meal or within half an hour after a snack).

No special requirements.

fosamprenavir (Telzir) (usually taken with ritonavir)

May be taken with or without food.

Alcohol should be avoided by people on the liquid formulation.

indinavir (Crixivan, now rarely used)

Take on an empty stomach, or with a light, low-fat snack, or at least two hours after and one hour before a meal.

Increase fluid intake (try to drink at least 1.5 litres of non-alcoholic fluids a day) to reduce the chances of developing kidney stones.

lopinavir/ritonavir (Kaletra) tablets

Take with or without food.

No special requirements.

lopinavir/ritonavir (Kaletra) liquid

Should be taken with food to increase its effectiveness.

No special requirements.

ritonavir (Norvir)

May be taken with or without food, but taking with a fatty meal minimises the risk of nausea (this is less of a problem with the low dose [100mg] of ritonavir).

No special requirements.

saquinavir (Invirase) (must be taken with ritonavir)

Take within two hours of food to increase its effectiveness.

No special requirements.

tipranavir (Aptivus) (must be taken with ritonavir)

Take with or after food to reduce the incidence of side-effects.

No special requirements.

Fusion and entry inhibitors

 

Food requirements

Liquid requirements

maraviroc (Celsentri)

May be taken with or without food.

No special requirements.

T-20 (enfuvirtide, Fuzeon)

Administered by injection. No food restrictions.

No special requirements.

Integrase inhibitors

 

Food requirements

Liquid requirements

raltegravir (Isentress)

May be taken with or without food. Do not chew, crush or split tablets.

No special requirements.
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.