A friend of mine emailed me the other day and asked me a very common question – when supplements expire, do they go bad?
I guess he had a few products that were set to expire in about a month and wanted to know if they would simply lose potency or could they actually make him sick if he continued to take them after expiration.
Okay, so first and foremost, I would say it’s always best to discard a product once it has passed the expiration date, but if you’re faced with a nearly full bottle of supplements and can’t stand the thought of waste, here’s my best guess. As always, please note this is NOT personal medical advice! With that said, here’s what I wrote him -
Okay, so first here’s one overriding issue – a supplement past expiration can be thought of differently based on two major factors – oxygen and moisture. If the bottle was never opened the product will keep much better than if the bottle that was opened a couple dozen times and then allowed to sit for a year.
Generally speaking, different types of supplements act differently in my experience.
Herbs -
So, for the most part any herb simply loses potency over time. Think of a spice that gets less pungent over time. Essentially it’s losing potency as spices are medicines. Thus, an herb works in much the same fashion – it should not cause any harm.
Vitamins -
Pretty much same here however, one must take into account moisture. Oxygen will cause the product to lose potency (a 500mg tablet may now only be “worth” 350mg) but I’ve seen moisture really change things up. I’ve seen vitamins actually burst from expanding and smell terrible over time. I would assume those could cause some upset stomach.
The big deal here is fat soluble versus water soluble vitamins. Fat soluble like vit. A, E and D may go bad as they are fat based (ie. rancid?) as opposed to vitamin C which is water soluble.
Omega Oils and EFAs -
These can be the most dicey as they are fats, therefore they can be rancid. To a degree this could depend on how they were stored – cool dry place or very hot cabinet. Like any oil, the hotter it is, the quicker it will go bad. I would probably be least likely to use an expired fat product over any other form of supplement.
I suppose you could try pricking one and smelling the oil. Does it smell rancid? If so, toss it.
Again, it’s always best to use a product up in a reasonable time after opening, and if there’s any question I say toss it. It’s just not worth a night of discomfort!
–Michael Ventresca
