MANDELIC ACID

Fetal Risk Summary

Mandelic acid is available as a single agent and in combination with methenamine (see also Methenamine). The Collaborative Perinatal Project reported 30 1st trimester exposures for this drug (1, pp. 299, 302). For use anytime in pregnancy, 224 exposures were recorded (1, p. 435). Only in the latter group was a possible association with malformations found. The statistical significance of this association is not known. Independent confirmation is required.

Breast Feeding Summary

Mandelic acid is excreted into breast milk. In six mothers given 12 g/day, milk levels averaged 550 µg/mL (2). The drug was found in the urine of all infants. It was estimated that an infant would receive an average dose of 86 mg/kg/day by this route. The significance of this amount is not known.

References

1. Heinonen OP, Slone D, Shapiro S. Birth Defects and Drugs in Pregnancy. Littleton, MA: Publishing Sciences Group, 1977.
2. Berger H. Excretion of mandelic acid in breast milk. Am J Dis Child 1941;61:256–61.