Expired Vitamins?

[paulyron]

So I had this habit of buying vitamins... and either don't even take them at all or just take a few and stop taking them.  Then after a long time when I want to take them, they are expired because I haven't touched them in over a year and a half or two years.

 

 

I had vitamins that show a expired date after not opening it for two years or so.  Some of the vitamins, I could tell went bad because when you shake them... its all stuck.  So when i open it up, you see not only is it stuck, sometimes its moldy and a smell so obviously you throw those away.

 

 

 

Now what about vitamins that are either unopened or opened... but when you open it up... there is no smell or anything to it.  Is it still fine taking it?  I have a few vitamins that are either unopened... or opened but I haven't touched them in a long time.  They are a bit more than a half year expired... but there is no smell or anything in the opened ones.  In the unopened ones, I haven't opened them up yet.. only have two bottles but from shaking it, it doesn't seem to have went bad at all.

 

 

 

From what I read online, its still safe to take it... its just not as effective... is this true or not?  These vitamins aren't that expensive at all, but would you say its foolish of me to take them and not buy new ones if im planning to take them daily now?  Another part of me doesn't want to throw it out because these don't seem to smell or anything... well the bottle that is opened.  But the ones that are not opened... if i open it up and it smells normal or nothing like molding in those vitamins, would you continue to take it or not?  A part of me frugal with this, the other part is... Im going to feel like an idiot if i risk my health to save a small amount of money on these vitamins.  These vitamins aren't that expensive.  

 

 

 

But the date that is printed... its not the expiry date but more like a best by date right?  Now obviously if its food or something that expires and you can tell by smell or look of it, obviously throw it away.  But if the unopened vitamins seem fine... take them?  I would be curious if anyone here has taken a whole bottle of expired vitamins even if it expire a year or two or even three years... and said it was fine after taking it.

[aisle9]

Here's the thing: most "vitamins" come from labs with minimal quality control procedures in place. They're not FDA regulated, so no matter what the label says, no one really knows what's in there, or how whatever's in there will age. I wouldn't gamble on those odds. If you need vitamins in the US, reputable drug or grocery stores like Walgreens, CVS or Rite Aid are about the only places you should be looking.

[whm1974]

Throw in trash.

[TetraSky]

Most medicines and vitamins, if they come in a dry pill, could probably last a good while after the expiration date. The most that would happen is the effectiveness of it would go down a bit.

In the case of vitamins, things like minerals are literally inert, it's not like it will change much.

But personally, I still wouldn't eat them if they were like, 6 months past the date (unless we were in some kind of survival apocalyptic scenario... which we're not). Not because I'd be scared to get sick. But simple because my home is not kept at the ideal temperature for these pills and I'd rather be sure to get the full effect)

 

If these are "gummies" though, I wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot pole due to gelatin and other stuff that can and will go bad.

[Teddy07]

Vitamins can not expire and excess vitamins are flushed out your system anyway

[whm1974]

2 hours ago, Teddy07 said:

Vitamins can not expire and excess vitamins are flushed out your system anyway

Actually excess Vitamins such as A and D are toxic. Why do you think they tell you not to eat Polar Bear liver?

[Andreas Lilja]

1 minute ago, whm1974 said:

Actually excess Vitamins such as A and D are toxic. Why do you think they tell you not to eat Polar Bear liver?

With usual amounts?

 

Dihydrogen monoxide is also toxic in high doses.

[whm1974]

1 hour ago, Andreas Lilja said:

With usual amounts?

 

Dihydrogen monoxide is also toxic in high doses.

The amount in Food and the Human body makes with skin exposed to sunlight? Not likely.

[aisle9]

2 hours ago, whm1974 said:

Actually excess Vitamins such as A and D are toxic. Why do you think they tell you not to eat Polar Bear liver?

Because hunting polar bears when there are seals around is stupid

[whm1974]

10 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

Because hunting polar bears when there are seals around is stupid

You hunt Polar Bears to keep them from hunting you... You also do this to reduce competition for food as well.

[LAwLz]

13 hours ago, aisle9 said:

Here's the thing: most "vitamins" come from labs with minimal quality control procedures in place. They're not FDA regulated, so no matter what the label says, no one really knows what's in there, or how whatever's in there will age. I wouldn't gamble on those odds. If you need vitamins in the US, reputable drug or grocery stores like Walgreens, CVS or Rite Aid are about the only places you should be looking.

This is a very misleading statement.

Specific dietary supplement pills like vitamin D pills are not FDA regulated, but each ingredient in them are.

You are not allowed to sell a vitamin D pill on the market containing an ingredient that hasn't been validated for safety by the FDA. If you put in some new vitamin D source, it has to be validated by the FDA. Once that specific ingredient has been validated, all supplement companies are free to use that ingredient without having to be rechecked by the FDA.

 

Companies are also NOT allowed to sell whatever they want without any regulations. I'd like a source on the whole "produced in labs with minimal quality control" as well. If there is one thing chemical labs are known for, it's strict controls. It's not like it's a drunk person mixing in a little bit of whatever into each pill.

 

The FDA also acts reactively to supplementary pills. That is to say, they don't check every product (although they do check every ingredient) launched on the market before it launches, but they do check them after they are launched. Lori Greiner have talked about this several times. If you make for example a dietary pill that claims to help you lose weight (or some vitamin supplement) then you can launch the product and get it into stores, but once that has happened the FDA will investigate you and if they find your claims to be false or misleading, you will be in trouble.

 

 

https://www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/what-you-need-know-about-dietary-supplements#:~:text=FDA is not authorized to,BEFORE they go to market.

 

 

 

13 hours ago, Teddy07 said:

excess vitamins are flushed out your system anyway

This is only true for water-soluble vitamins such as B and C. It is NOT true for all vitamins.

Some vitamins are harmless to eat excessive amounts of (like B and C).

Some are not life threatening but can be unpleasant (like calcium which will give you diarrhea)

Excess of some vitamins can be quite dangerous (like vitamin D and iron which can actually kill you)

[paulyron]

Okay so these are the expired vitamins i have.  The first link, i still have a few of the cherry flavor one opened... but very few.  The unopened is the lemon flavor.

https://www.amazon.com/Jarrow-Formulas-Methyl-Supports-Lozenges/dp/B008403N2U/ref=sr_1_5?crid=CP7B8IARNORW&dchild=1&keywords=jarrow+formulas+methyl+b-12+500+mcg&qid=1602865257&sprefix=Jarrow+Formulas+Methyl+B-12+500%2Caps%2C174&sr=8-5

This is the maca i have... completely unopened

https://www.amazon.com/NOW-Foods-Maca-Vegetarian-Capsules/dp/B081R189JM/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=maca+now+foods&qid=1602865309&sr=8-5

Both expired about 7 months ago... well... more like best by date.. as that is what is said there.  So still okay to take it or not?

[dalekphalm]

On 10/15/2020 at 6:30 AM, LAwLz said:

This is a very misleading statement.

Specific dietary supplement pills like vitamin D pills are not FDA regulated, but each ingredient in them are.

You are not allowed to sell a vitamin D pill on the market containing an ingredient that hasn't been validated for safety by the FDA. If you put in some new vitamin D source, it has to be validated by the FDA. Once that specific ingredient has been validated, all supplement companies are free to use that ingredient without having to be rechecked by the FDA.

There was a news article some time ago about how a lab tested a bunch of off-the-shelf vitamins and supplements, and their results were that while the products were generally considered safe to consume (meaning, there's not much concern that they're putting other things into the pills that could be harmful), but that the actual vitamin content varied greatly, and often didn't have nearly as much content as advertised on the bottle.

 

So, it was more along the lines of "this is literally a placebo", rather than "this could be harmful".

 

Of course, according to my research just now, it turns out that at least the article I saw was based on incorrect lab data. Here's a CBC Retraction article:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/marketplace-vitamins-protein-powders-lab-testing-1.3412760

 

In the original article (which I cannot find, but here's a Yahoo News article talking about the CBC Marketplace investigation):

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/marketplace-pfizers-emergen-c-among-100000985.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAD3uHEg1WCXuJ7F836BFngt-m1ViQXlphyRsXMsNi23lGCOT1YEXspBmWCjbHGJglxhc5m5OhrcNpivQG0CFAdnNqMz-RtPA7HP5jUiEHa6OKSpwFvtKGT47dMTZeiKoOEey2p1TPg-LvTSJsJgQqAfT_YU0z872s5-dCX8hMGSY

 

CBC Marketplace paid a private lab to test various supplements for what was actually in them. In the original test results, it showed several supplements (including "Emergen-C" - which is a Vitamin C supplement) did not contain as much of the advertised supplement as claimed.

 

In follow-up testing, lab data showed that the products were as advertised, and then CBC retracted the claim.

 

WITH THAT IN MIND: Canada and the US do regulate some of this stuff - other countries may not. It's entirely possible that in a country with sketchy food and drug regulations, that vitamin supplements may not contain the advertised quantities or may not be up to acceptable quality controls - this is entirely hypothetical though and not based on any specific incidents that I'm aware of.

 

[dizmo]

The US Army has done studies into how long drugs and supplements last past their expiry. They lose some strength but I don't think they found any issues even 10 years after the date on the package. Though seeing you bought them on Amazon I'd just buy new ones. It's not expensive. Get into the habit of actually taking them and it'll never be a problem. 

 

On 10/14/2020 at 2:37 PM, Teddy07 said:

Vitamins can not expire and excess vitamins are flushed out your system anyway

Ehhh. Kind of. Not all are. Calcium for example can cause gall stones. 

On 10/14/2020 at 5:08 PM, whm1974 said:

Actually excess Vitamins such as A and D are toxic. Why do you think they tell you not to eat Polar Bear liver?

Most things are toxic in large amounts. Such as water. 

[Sakkura]

On 10/15/2020 at 12:30 PM, LAwLz said:

This is only true for water-soluble vitamins such as B and C. It is NOT true for all vitamins.

Some vitamins are harmless to eat excessive amounts of (like B and C).

Some are not life threatening but can be unpleasant (like calcium which will give you diarrhea)

Excess of some vitamins can be quite dangerous (like vitamin D and iron which can actually kill you)

Please don't give dangerously misleading medical advice. There are several different B vitamins, some of which can be dangerous to take in excess. Overdosis of vitamin B6 can lead to irreversible neurological damage, for example.

[Sakkura]

On 10/14/2020 at 10:32 PM, TetraSky said:

 

In the case of vitamins, things like minerals are literally inert, it's not like it will change much.

 

Minerals are not vitamins. They're organic molecules, which are often the source of cofactors for enzymes (for example, pyridoxine = vitamin B6 is converted into the common enzymatic cofactor pyridoxal phosphate after ingestion).

 

1 hour ago, dizmo said:

 

Ehhh. Kind of. Not all are. Calcium for example can cause gall stones. 

 

Calcium is a mineral, not a vitamin.

[dizmo]

4 minutes ago, Sakkura said:

Calcium is a mineral, not a vitamin.

They're often included in supplements.

[TetraSky]

5 hours ago, Sakkura said:

Minerals are not vitamins.

Sure, if you buy plain "vitamins".

But who does that?

Multi-vitamins usually have vitamins and minerals in them. If they don't, then they are probably gummies or something like that, in which case, don't use them after the expiration.