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What Are The Repercussions Of Accidentally Consuming Expired Lemon Juice During Pregnancy?

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Posted on Mon, 16 Mar 2015
Question: I mistakenly used last years jiff lemon juice rather than new one on pancakes last night and my wife is 9wks pregnant and now worried could harm baby. Please help!
doctor
Answered by Dr. Aarti Abraham (16 minutes later)
Brief Answer:
Nothing to worry, no harm done.

Detailed Answer:
Hello
Thanks for writing to us with your health concern.
Firstly, relax.
There is no need to call 111 or her doctor yet.
You must have used a bit of the bottled Jif on the pancakes, not a lot !
That amount of the juice cannot harm either her or the baby.
I understand your anxiety, but the amount is too small to cause trouble.
At the most, it might cause her some mild indigestion / unwell feeling due to the off taste of the expired juice.
Nothing further.
If , and that is a remote possibility, she starts having diarrhoea / vomiting, then yes, please take her to a medical facility, short of that, nothing needs to be done.
One word of caution though - preservatives are known to harm the baby in the long run.
Prolonged and high dosage use of foodstuff that contains preservatives can harm the pregnancy.
Bottled juice, or bottled anything for that matter, which contains preservatives, is never a good idea during pregnancy.
So avoid such items.
A dab of juice as a one - off incident is fine, and wont harm her or the child in any way.
All the best.
Please feel free to discuss further.
You can reach me directly by writing in at the following link -
http://doctor.healthcaremagic.com/doctors/dr-aarti-abraham/64623
Take care.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Aarti Abraham (15 minutes later)
hi thanks for the quick reply. she had quite a bit on pancake, does that make any difference. also she is on antibiotics at moment anyway for bladder infection and has been sick with that so would be difficult to tell if was due to lemon or not. Does this make any difference to your original answer or should we not be worried? i will make sure very careful in future regarding food with preservatives
doctor
Answered by Dr. Aarti Abraham (3 hours later)
Brief Answer:
No harm done.

Detailed Answer:
Hello again.
Thank you for the appreciation.
NO it makes no difference to my original answer.
Even if she consumed a significant amount of pancakes, it does not matter.
As long as she stays away from preservatives in future, no harm done.
Take care.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Ashwin Bhandari
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Answered by
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Dr. Aarti Abraham

OBGYN

Practicing since :1998

Answered : 6004 Questions

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What Are The Repercussions Of Accidentally Consuming Expired Lemon Juice During Pregnancy?

Brief Answer: Nothing to worry, no harm done. Detailed Answer: Hello Thanks for writing to us with your health concern. Firstly, relax. There is no need to call 111 or her doctor yet. You must have used a bit of the bottled Jif on the pancakes, not a lot ! That amount of the juice cannot harm either her or the baby. I understand your anxiety, but the amount is too small to cause trouble. At the most, it might cause her some mild indigestion / unwell feeling due to the off taste of the expired juice. Nothing further. If , and that is a remote possibility, she starts having diarrhoea / vomiting, then yes, please take her to a medical facility, short of that, nothing needs to be done. One word of caution though - preservatives are known to harm the baby in the long run. Prolonged and high dosage use of foodstuff that contains preservatives can harm the pregnancy. Bottled juice, or bottled anything for that matter, which contains preservatives, is never a good idea during pregnancy. So avoid such items. A dab of juice as a one - off incident is fine, and wont harm her or the child in any way. All the best. Please feel free to discuss further. You can reach me directly by writing in at the following link - http://doctor.healthcaremagic.com/doctors/dr-aarti-abraham/64623 Take care.