Where Do You Store Your Vitamins?

Posted on March 6, 2010 by Lolita Carrico

If you’re like most people, your daily vitamins are stored either in your kitchen or your bathroom, right? Well, a new study says that the kitchen or bathroom may be the worst place in the house to store supplements.

Due to high humidity and temperatures in the most frequently used rooms in your home, supplements like vitamin C can quickly degrade in potency and the conditions can also shorten the shelf life of other supplements — even if the bottle cap is on tightly. How do you know if your vitamins are degrading?

The first signs of nutrient degradation are usually brown spots, especially on children’s vitamins. The researchers recommend discarding any vitamin supplement that is showing signs of moisture in the container or browning.

“They’re not necessarily unsafe, but why give a vitamin to a kid if it doesn’t have the vitamin content you’re hoping to give them?” lead research Lisa Mauer says. “You’re just giving them candy at that point with a high sugar content.”

So where should you store vitamins? Try a drawer in your bedroom or on your bureau as an alternative.