Every day, millions of us are using supplementsâincluding vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanicals, amino acids, or enzymes. A 2020 study from the Council for Reasonable Nutrition (CRN) found that 73 percent of American adults take supplements regularly. But as weâve told you before, the supplement industry is unregulated. Meaning itâs up to the consumer to determine if a supplement is safe and effective.
The good news is that the majority of supplements on the market are safe to take. And, there are tools you can use to help you read labels and evaluate a product. But one thing you might not be aware of is that many supplements donât come with an expiration date. Does this lack of expiry date increase the risk?
According to the National Library of Medicine, multivitamins are the most popular form of supplement in the marketplace. However, they donât come with expiration dates.
This is partly because supplement expiration dates are not required by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Some brands do provide a âuse byâ or âbest beforeâ date on their products, but thatâs done voluntarily.
Why are the expiration dates missing? Why are there no regulations? Well, as Healthline explained, thatâs because vitamins donât expire like other over-the-counter medicines.
âVitamins donât âexpireâ in the traditional sense,â the site reads. âInstead of becoming unsafe to ingest, they simply become less potent. Thatâs because most of the ingredients in vitamins and dietary supplements break down gradually. This means that they become less effective over time.â
The shelf life of supplements does vary. When stored properly, vitamins in tablet form can last for years. However, chewables and gummies tend to degrade faster.
If youâve had a supplement in your medicine cabinet for a while, how can you tell if they are less potent or expired? Medical News Today claimed that you should âimmediately dispose of vitaminsâ if you see signs of mold, a change in color, or if you detect a strange smell.
However, if you have children or pets in the house, itâs not as easy as tossing the vitamins into the trash. You donât want to risk anyone getting sick if they get into the garbage. The FDA advised mixing vitamins with coffee grounds or cat litter and putting that mixture into a sealed bag. Then, throw that entire bag into the trash.
Another option is to throw out your expired supplements at a local hazardous waste center or collection site. To find an appropriate waste center near you, simply visit the Earth 911 Database and search for âhousehold hazardous wasteâ sites near your zip code.
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