Kefir is not the last place in the diet of most people. This is an excellent fermented milk product that tones and improves digestion. It is prepared by fermentation from whole or skim milk. However, ordinary consumers face rational questions: what happens if you drink expired kefir, what is its real shelf life and how best to store it?
Product benefits
During the production process, kefir is saturated with about 20 beneficial microorganisms. These are lacto and bifidobacteria, milk mushrooms and other microorganisms useful to humans. The fermentation process helps to saturate the source material with vitamins and proteins. The result is a viscous, palatable and healthy final product.
By the way, the best kefir - two-day exposure.
Harm
It would seem, what harm can such an excellent drink do to the body and what will happen if you drink expired kefir? In fact, it is an expired product that carries a huge danger. After consuming an expired product, severe intoxication of the body may occur, accompanied by severe dehydration. There is even a chance of death.
When can intoxication occur?
The main danger is not even that the expiration date has expired, but that storage conditions have been violated.
Many people mistakenly believe that a fermented product can no longer sour and deteriorate. However, even when stored in a warm room for at least 2 hours, bacteria begin to ferment again in the drink, while harmful microorganisms win in the “struggle for life”. In light of this, the described fermented milk product cannot be heated or stored on a warm battery.
Expired
What happens if you drink expired kefir? The consequences of drinking an expired drink will not be long in coming. Most often, disorders of the gastrointestinal tract appear. Bloating, diarrhea, flatulence may occur. In extreme cases, everything ends with poisoning.
At the same time, if kefir is expired, but kept in the refrigerator, a strong stomach may not react at all. However, there will definitely not be any benefit from such a drink.
To determine the expiration date, you can pay attention only to the composition of the drink. If it has lumps and it foams, it means that carbon dioxide has already formed in it, which provokes an increased production of hydrochloric acid and secretion. Such kefir is no longer recommended for use.
And what will happen if you drink kefir overdue for 1 day ? Most likely, nothing will happen, but if it is already overdue for 10 days or more, then you should beware of harmful microorganisms, which are the provocateurs of poisoning.
In what other cases is it better to abandon the use of kefir?
First of all, never purchase goods if the packaging is leaking. Even a small amount of air can become fertile ground for the appearance of streptococci or staphylococci.
Naturally, it will not be possible to determine by eye what else, in addition to the main components, the manufacturer put in the drink. However, the presence of preservatives, flavorings and food additives to increase the shelf life definitely will not have a positive effect on health.
Symptoms of intoxication
Continuing the topic of what will happen if you drink expired kefir, you should mention what symptoms may indicate poisoning.
Most poisoned people have diarrhea. In this case, the feces are foamy and watery, with a very unpleasant odor. Perhaps the appearance of nausea, which later turns into vomiting. In the abdomen there can be severe cramping, bloating, it can torment the feeling of constant bouts, sometimes colic appears.
If there were already pathogenic microorganisms in kefir, then the body can react with a high temperature. Perhaps an increase in blood pressure, interruptions in the work of the heart muscle.
In very severe cases, convulsions with loss of consciousness may begin, but, fortunately, this happens extremely rarely.
The child drank expired kefir
What to do in cases when the child got to the refrigerator and found an expired product there, and even drank it? In fact, the same as with an adult:
- First of all, you should give your child sorbent agents. It can be ordinary activated carbon, Smecta or Enterosgel.
- You can cause artificial vomiting. For this, a weak solution of potassium permanganate is prepared. Instead, you can use table salt.
- If the symptoms are strong enough, then a cleansing enema is best. It can be ordinary warm water, perhaps a little acidified. If there is a camomile, then a decoction of it is ideal.
- After preventive measures, if the child drank expired kefir, it should be watered with clean water or decoctions of herbs, compote. The portions should be small, but you need to drink at least every 15 minutes. In no case should you give your child freshly squeezed juices or carbonated drinks. This rule applies to adults.
In no case, when poisoning, you should not use antibacterial agents or drink medicines whose action is aimed at stopping diarrhea or vomiting. On the contrary, it is necessary that the body is purified.
Medical treatment
Naturally, there is very little chance of serious poisoning after a glass of kefir, nevertheless, there were situations when a person fell into a hospital. In the hospital, there is a special protocol, which involves the administration of a glucose solution (with saline solution) in such cases. If bacterial analysis yields positive results, then antibacterial agents are used for therapy.
In case of severe intoxication, a forced diuresis technique is used that accelerates the process of elimination of toxins. If necessary, symptomatic therapy is performed.
Recovery after treatment
What to do if I drank expired kefir, it seems to be clear, but what to do after treatment and how to restore the intestinal microflora?
The first time, to normalize the intestines, a dietary table is recommended. And on the first day after the symptoms are eliminated, it is better not to eat at all, but only to drink plenty of clean and still water.
Gradually, neutral foods, bananas or baked apples, crackers, biscuits and cereals of a viscous consistency should be introduced. It is also recommended to introduce broths with lean meat, vegetables. In parallel, probiotics can be taken.
How to prevent poisoning
First of all, you should not purchase expired products, but you need to buy them exclusively in stores where there is a special refrigeration equipment.
For children, it is better to purchase sour-milk drinks with a shelf life of not more than 3 days. In no case do not store the drink in the clear.
In truth, it is very unlikely that if you drink expired kefir, an adult or child will have serious poisoning. Basically, problems arise only through negligence.