Incivek (Telaprevir): 20 Grams of Fat
Foreword
The current hepatitis C treatment for genotype1 patients uses three drugs:
peginterferon, ribavirin, and either boceprevir (Victrelis) or telaprevir (Incivek).
The instructions for ribavirin are “to take with food.” Patients are advised to take boceprevir (Victrelis) “with food (a meal or light snack).”
The instructions for telaprevir are very specific as found in this excerpt from Incivek’s medication guide states: “Take Incivek 3 times a day. Each dose should be taken 7 to 9 hours apart.
Eat a meal or snack that contains about 20 grams of fat, within 30 minutes before you take each dose of Incivek. Talk to your healthcare provider about examples of foods that you can eat that contain about 20 grams of fat. Always take Incivek with food.”
The 20 grams of fat guideline is a minimum. This is not a modest amount of fat. You may eat more, but be careful, as weight gain and lipid-related problems may occur. choose quality fat. Avoid trans-fat and fat found in food with low nutritional value. In short, potato chips or doughnuts are not a healthy choice.
Take your pills within 20-30 minutes of eating. Here are suggestions of foods that have approximately 20 grams of fat:
• avocado – 1 cup
• bacon – 4 slices regular
• butter – 2 Tablespoons
• cheese, hard such as cheddar, jack, Swiss, etc. – 2 oz
• cheese, soft such as blue, camembert, goat, etc. – 2.5-3 oz
• chocolate, dark – 2 oz
• coconut, dried – 1 cup
• cooking oil (olive is among the healthiest; canola, sunflower, soy and safflower are other healthy oils) – 1.5 Tablespoons
• cream cheese, full-fat – 2 oz
• Croissants – 2 medium
• eggnog – 2 cups
• eggs with yolks – 4 large
• flax seed oil – 1.5 Tablespoons
• hamburger patty (80% lean/20%fat) – 4 oz
• ice cream – 1.5 cups
• Italian salad dressing – 5 Tablespoons
• mayonnaise – 4 Tablespoons
• milk, whole – 2.5 cups
• milkshake – 12 oz
• nuts such as almonds, walnuts, pistachios – 1/3 cup
• olives – 50 medium
• omelet – 2 large eggs, 1 oz cheese cooked in 1 teaspoon of butter
• peanut butter, almond butter, etc. – 2.5 Tablespoons
• pizza – 2 slices
• roasted chicken with skin – 5-6 ounces
• salmon – 6 oz
• sardines in oil – 6 oz.
• sour cream – ½ cup
• Starbucks Café Mocha w/whip cream – Any grande or venti size made with whole milk and whipped cream
• sunflower seeds – 1/3 cup
• trail mix – ½ cup
• tuna salad – 3 oz with 1Tablespoon of mayo
• yogurt, whole milk – 2.5 cups
To find the fat content of food, enter the name and amount, and scroll down to “total lipid (fat)”
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search
Here is a popular link to a list offoods with 20 grams of fat; some foods on the list are less nutritious than others: Slaying the Dragon with Food
http://www.squidoo.com/slaying-thedragon
Written by: Lucinda K. Porter, RN