DO EXPIRED SUPPLEMENTS HAVE TO BE THROWN AWAY?

When is the last time you did a thorough inventory of your supplement products?

It’s a good idea to go through all your pills, liquids, and superfoods from time to time to get updated on what you really have stashed away. Often, this results in tossing many out due to expiration dates that have come and gone.

But, is this really necessary?

Let’s take a closer look and sort this out. It is important to discern when to toss and when to keep.

The first thing to understand is that the FDA does not require stamping your nutritional supplements and products with an expiration date. So why then do manufacturers put a “best by” or “use by” date on the package?

Are they looking out for the consumer? Making sure you don’t poison yourself with a supplement that is one day past its expiration?

And who comes up with these dates? How is it determined that one day a product is ok, but the next day it should be tossed out due to the expiration date?

Here’s the cold, hard truth… Somebody pulls the date out of thin air and stamps it on the package.

The manufacturers claim they want the consumer to get the best quality product possible. In other words, use your product quickly or throw it out when it expires and buy new.

Pay attention to “buy new.” Keep the profit treadmill moving along… Buy new… Use up… Throw out… Rinse, wash, repeat.

Keep in mind, the industrialists are always, always, always looking at the bottom line.

But, is the consumer at risk by taking a supplement that has passed its “date-out-of-thin-air” expiration time?

The short answer is, probably not.

You are surely wondering if these expired products are toxic or dangerous to consume. As a rule, not at all.

Here’s what to consider… A product is its most potent right after production. With time, or oxidation from an opened package, its potency lessens.

In other words, a product is the most effective when it is fresh. As time passes, it will still be effective, just not as much so as right off the production line.

You see, technically, supplements don’t expire. But, they can lose potency and effectiveness over time.

Here are the guidelines I personally use when I am evaluating whether to keep or toss a product that has exceeded the “use by” date:

• Examine it.  Does it look weird, discolored, or shrunken?
• Smell it. Does it smell musty or funky?
• Has the container been opened and exposed to oxidation?
• Has the product been stored somewhere that gets hot?

Any positive evaluations are reason to consider the round can. But if it looks good, smells good, has been stored in a cool, dark place, I personally disregard the expiration date and proceed with consuming the product.

I also have stored unopened bottles and packages for years past the expiration dates. As long as the product has not been opened to trigger oxidation and is stored in a cool place, I have found almost all products store very well long term.

So the bottom line on this supplement expiration issue is, examine the item. If it passes the eye test, sniff test, and storage test, in my opinion, the product is good to go long past the “best by” date.