Hello,

I'm I bit confused. I've read that if a person is taking Atripla they can absolutely can't either eat or drink any grapefruit or byproduct of grapefruit. Is this true? I know of a HIV+ person who has just started Atripla and they both eat grapefruits and drink grapefruit juice. What the 411 on Atripla and grapefruits?

There is no study to my knowledge that clearly answers that question. There is a theoretical concern about liver metabolism changes from grapefruit that is a real concern when taking protease inhibitors but less so with efavirenz. So data is limited, there is a mild theoretical concern, and I am usually OK with patients eating grapefruit when taking efavirenz though I often monitor more carefully (side effects and evidence for decrease/increased efavirenz levels and looking for unexpected increases in viral levels). KH