Shelf life of Tabs and Caps - Placebo?

[Savvy]

Hi all,

Mods, sorry if this topic has been covered, I have searched the site and cant find a specific answer.

I found a load of supplements from last year that I completely forgot about…

Firstly: I have a bottle of MP daily vitamins, unopened but expires May 2010
– Would these expire at the start or end of May?

Secondly: I have a large tub of MP Glucosamine tabs from last year, expires Oct 2010
– Have these now lost their supplementary values and should I discard them?

Thirdly: I have an opened container of MP CLA capsules not used since last summer, they for some reason have gone quite soft/sticky, could be that a couple of them had burst
- Again, have these now lost their supplementary values and should I discard them?

The main reason I am asking this is that I found an interesting article:



Stored vitamins go off in a week
Vitamins and health supplements can become useless in as little as a week if stored in kitchens and bathrooms, researchers warned today.

They are ruined by high humidity and degrade within days, even if they are stored in pots with their lids on tight.

Opening and closing the package allows the moisture in and destroys the product. ‘Within a very short time – in a week – you can get complete loss of vitamin C,’ said researcher Dr Lisa Mauer.

‘You can get complete loss of the ingredients. It depends on the conditions. It depends on the formulations.’

The findings could be a serious blow to the vitamin and health supplement industry, which is worth about £600million a year in Britain.

The research shows how vulnerable supplements such as vitamin B and C are to a process called deliquescence. It means they are badly affected by humidity, which can reach up to 98 per cent in a bathroom where, for example, someone has just had a lengthy shower.

‘Opening and closing a package will change the atmosphere in it. If you open and close a package in a bathroom, you add a little bit of humidity and moisture each time,’ said Dr Mauer.

The US researcher said supplements were not harmful when degraded just ineffective. ‘You’re just giving them candy at that point,’ she added.

The Health Supplements Information Service denied her claims, saying: ‘So long as they are stored in ordinary shelves in a bathroom there shouldn’t be a problem.’

[Savvy]

anyone??

[MoonBoots89]

When it says `expires in may` its just an estimate so it means somewhere in the middle. Companies generally play it safe with expirary dates though, so it could be interpreted as meaning the end of may.

I would be very surprised if they were harmful...worst case scenario is probably that they won't do anything.