Do Vitamins Expire? Preserving the Efficacy of Vitamins and Supplements

How often do you find a vitamin or supplement bottle you completely forgot about?

The version of you that stocked up on a new vitamin B complex had the best intentions.

But somehow that supplement you knew would be a game-changer got lost in the back of a drawer or cupboard.

Can you still use it? Is it safe to take expired vitamins?

While most sources say, “yes,” the answer to this question is more nuanced than a simple yes or no. Let’s explore the safety, potency and best practices of expired vitamins.

Do Vitamins Expire?

Vitamin and supplement brands aren’t required to disclose an expiration date — so no, they technically don’t expire. However, many vitamins do include a “best by” date. This should give you an idea of how long the vitamin or supplement maintains its potency and effectiveness.

The shelf life of an average vitamin is around 1-2 years. However, it’s important to keep in mind the freshness, quality, and type of vitamins or supplements at play. For instance, bioactive oils like fish oil can go rancid very easily and could harm your cells. Taking these supplements after they expire may have similar effects to consuming heat-processed seed oils, which can trigger an inflammatory response in the body (instead of having an anti-inflammatory effect).

Water-soluble or fat-soluble vitamins should last closer to the average of 1-2 years, provided they don’t have any added oils or other perishable ingredients.

Can You Take Expired Vitamins?

Let’s rephrase this question. Technically, the average multivitamin or mineral supplement isn’t known to cause harm if it’s “expired.”

The more important question we should be asking is: Does a vitamin or supplement lose its potency and effectiveness over time?

The answer to that question is yes.

Freshness and supplement quality go hand-in-hand. Supplement brands that include “best by” dates have specifically measured the effectiveness, ingredients, and shelf life of that nutrient. If your vitamin is expired, the best course of action is to get a fresh bottle and put it front and centre in your kitchen or bathroom so you can start a new routine and experience all the intended benefits.

An Important Exception: Bioactive Oils

If you know anything about the team at BodyBio, you know we care a lot about the quality of our bioactive oils. These nutrient-dense, healthy fats are vital to cellular function when used properly. But if these oils turn rancid, they have the opposite effect — triggering an inflammatory response in the body and increasing oxidative stress.

For this reason, it’s essential that we properly care for bioactive oil supplements, like phosphatidylcholine, evening primrose oil and fish oil. None of these should be used past their recommended shelf life or expiration date. They should also be stored in the fridge if specified on the bottle.

Vitamin Storage and Best Practices for Optimal Potency

If you pay careful attention to the quality and potency of supplements you buy, you should also pay equal attention to how you store them. These are our best practices for vitamin and supplement storage for optimal potency.

• Keep your supplements in a cool, dry area. Make sure to keep your vitamins and supplements in a temperature- and humidity-controlled area, such as your pantry, kitchen cupboards, or a counter surface, without much light or heat exposure. Only keep supplements in your bathroom if you have good ventilation throughout.
• Never leave supplements in the car. This can be tempting when travelling, but it’s never a good idea. Extreme temperatures (whether hot or cold) can impact the effectiveness of your supplements. This goes for pharmaceutical drugs, too.
• Always check ingredient labels for hidden additives. You never know what additives may be hiding in a supplement. Check these labels to ensure no rancid oils, fillers, sugars, or dyes are present.
• Always opt for cold-pressed and hexane-free oil supplements. According to research, at least 45% of fish oil supplements are rancid by the time they arrive in stores. This is often due to heat and chemical processing methods that break down these delicate fatty acids. Instead, choose responsibly processed oils that are cold-pressed and hexane-free.

• • Avoid toxic commercial oils. These are often added to vitamins and supplements as filler ingredients, but they could sneakily decrease the nutrient’s lifespan — and harm your cells.
  • Refrigerate supplements when instructed. Many probiotics will state this on the packaging, always check the back of the bottle for instructions, and don’t refrigerate your vitamins unless instructed.
• Understand bioavailability. Absorption is key when taking a high-quality vitamin or supplement. Understand the conditions that decrease vitamin bioavailability — including outside influences like temperature and internal influences like gut imbalances.

Expired Vitamins and Cellular Health

When assessing expired vitamins, it’s important to ask the right questions. Most people want to know if they can get away with using old vitamins for convenience or budgeting reasons. But the important question isn’t whether or not you can get away with it, but whether or not it’s good for your cells.

An expired vitamin is unlikely to make you feel worse or cause an unintended reaction. But it could trigger a surge of oxidative stress that puts extra pressure on your cells, forcing them to work harder to keep you healthy and functioning. When in doubt, it’s best to throw out expired supplements and begin a more sustainable and organised supplement routine.

Starting a new supplement routine with potent and nutrient-dense products to improve your health will be much more valuable to you and your cells than the one bottle you found in the back of your supplement drawer a year or two ago.

Supplement Expiration Is a Good Thing (Seriously)

If you’re taking bioactive oils and essential fatty acids, it’s good to know these products have an expiration date. It means the supplements are highly potent and fresh, and aren’t full of preservatives.

We encourage you to keep best-by-dates in mind as you explore different supplements — understanding that quality and a supplement’s impact on your health are what matter most. And, if you build a sustainable supplement routine and take vitamins daily, you shouldn’t run into any expired bottles.