Choosing a good vitamin product is one thing, storing it is another matter. When we have purchased the vitamin product, we should make sure that we are able to get the most benefit from it. We should consider how and where we should store our supplements and vitamins. If we place vitamin product in the wrong places, it may lose its potency and degrade more quickly. It is important that supplements still have their chemical makeup intact in the storage. People tend to place their medicine is rather humid areas, such as the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. The purpose is that they will form a habit to take their medication and supplements each day after they brush their teeth in the morning and at night. This may sound like a good thing, but bathroom is a moist and warm environment, especially we take shower a couple times each day. Eventually supplements will be exposed to accumulated moisture. The humidity will cause essential chemicals in the supplements to break down into non-active compound and this will increase the possibility of unwanted mold and bacteria growth.
Putting supplements in the airtight bottles don’t solve the problem, because some moisture will get into the bottle each time the lid is opened. Vitamin B and C are water soluble and they are affected by high level of humidity. When enough moisture accumulate inside the bottle, the pills will get damp and they may crumble relatively easily. The vitamin pills may also be placed inside a container with silica gel pack, which are able to absorb some amount of moisture. However, the silica gel pack won’t give us complete protection against the moisture and it will eventually become saturated. There are places where we can store our vitamins safely, such as bedroom drawer, closet and pantry. The kitchen is not a good place to store supplements because there’s high level of moisture and heat, just like in the bathroom. Just be safe, we may also place the bottle inside a sealed plastic container, so we will get double-barrier protection. Pressed tablets or pills are particularly vulnerable to humidity, because they are more porous and more susceptible to degradation and oxidation. The latter will be accelerated by higher temperature, such as warm environment in the kitchen and bathroom.
Ultraviolet light could also cause degradation and the biggest source of UV light is sunlight. If you have fluorescent light bulb inside the house, it emits some amount of UV light as well. At high intensity UV light can cause sunburn, while long term exposure may cause roofs to crumble, plastic to turn brittle, paint to get chalky and fabrics to become faded. Another alternative is to put the supplements in the fridge, especially because it’s dry and cool. If we don’t have the right place to store a large quantity of supplements, we shouldn’t purchase them in bulk, because we may end up throw them away. So, we need to be sensible.
