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How To Store Supplements
With added amino acids, antioxidants, enzymes and herbs, it might seem like dietary supplements could easily replace food as your source of nutrients. But this isn't the case. Whole foods — such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains — provide a complex combination of vitamins, minerals, fiber and other substances that promote health. Though vitamin and mineral supplements can't copy all of the nutrients and benefits of whole foods, they can complement your diet. If you have trouble getting enough nutrients, you may benefit from taking a vitamin or mineral supplement. To use supplements safely, weigh your nutritional needs, scrutinize the merits of taking a supplement, and understand how to choose and use dietary supplements.
Store you supplements improperly and they'll break down and loose their potency. Here's how to keep those sports supplements fully charged: - Leave them in the bottles they cam in. Most of them are opaque and keep the light out which degrades their contents by causing minute chemical reactions.
- Store the jars or bottles in a dark, dry place - not your bathroom cabinent. You see, after light, heat is the primary force for triggering chemical breakdowns. Keeping your supplements in the heat will produce you own little Chernobyl.
- Don't throw out the small white packets that come in the bottles. Ever wonder what it's for? They're desiccants, and they absorb the moisture that would otherwise attack your pills and reduce their effectiveness.
- A few supplements need special care: Fish oil and probiotics break down at room temperature and need to be stored in the refrigerator. SAMe should be kept titghtly capped in your freezer.
- Keep an eye on expiration dates. Most supplements become much less effective the older they get.
With all this said and done, the shelf-life of most, if not all, dietary supplements is much longer than the usual period of normal consumption or use. In addition, reputable manufacturers and suppliers conduct aging and shelf-life research and put expiration dates on their labels. Therefore, simply leaving the dietary supplement in its closed bottle in a closed cupboard for normal periods of use will not cause any loss of potency.
Drew Voight
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