How to Store VITAMINS – exposing the Expiry date myth

You can prolong the potency of your vitamins by the way you store them.

The majority of us probably keep our supplements in the kitchen or bathroom.
The best is to keep them high and dry..in a kitchen cabinet, that is way from heat and humidity .
(Only keep supplements in the fridge if specially stated on the bottle.)

For optimal potency, vitamins and other dietary supplements should be stored in a cool and dry place. A good high Kitchen cabinet away from heat, light and humidity is just fine.

MYTH

We have recently written that several studies support the fact that expiry dates are not accurate and some are far from real – if you follow the rules of good storage, most vitamins can last a decade or more. Just get them from a good trusted sourcelike Nutricelebrity.com

The FDA doesn’t require expiration dates on vitamins/supplements. In fact, manufacturers place the date on the package “voluntarily”. Some no longer use expiry dates, but “Manufactured on” dates.

Sometimes, expiration dates are set to expire “sooner” than the predicted life expectancy in order to drive up sales ( buy a new batch) – so don’t be duped by the date.

AGE

Gels and capsules age more quickly. So if you have a choice when purchasing vitamins and minerals, choose solid formed products. They can be just as potent but they’ll last longer.

It turns out that the FDA, has long known the shelf life of some drugs can be extended, sometimes by years and some research shows decades.

In fact, the federal government has saved a fortune by doing this.

GOVERNMENT STOCKPILED DRUGS DON’T EXPIRE THAT FAST

Maintaining drug stockpiles is expensive. For several decades, the government has stockpiled huge volumes of medication, antidotes and vaccines in secure locations.
The drugs are worth tens of billions of dollars and are for a large-scale emergency.

The drugs have to be kept secure and at the proper humidity and temperature so they don’t degrade. Though the government requires pharmacies to throw away expired drugs, it doesn’t really follow these instructions itself. Instead, for more than 30 years, it has pulled some medicines and tested their quality, and guess what? Many were still effective and could be safely used.

The Air Force, hoping to save on replacement costs, asked the FDA if certain drugs’ expiration dates could be extended. In response, the FDA and Defense Department created the Shelf Life Extension Program.
Stockpiles are chosen based on their value and expiration period, and analyzed to determine whether their end dates could be safely extended. The program has found that the actual shelf life of many drugs is well beyond the original expiration dates.
Similar findings are found published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

A pharmacist named Roy Gerona from UCSF, and Lee Cantrell, a toxicologist and professor from UCSD, knew that the term “expiration date” was not really correct.
After their in-depth research, their findings surprised both researchers: 12 of the 14 compounds were still as potent as they were when they were manufactured, some at almost 100 percent of their labeled concentrations.

HIGH AND DRY

So back to our Kitchen Cabinet and our Vitamins and Supplements.
Don’t sweat the expiry date, but …store them correctly.

Store them as you would any medication, in their original containers and out of reach of children. Be sure to avoid any cabinets or shelves that are close to windows or heating pipes where temperature and humidity might fluctuate.

-Nutri