Storage of vitamins and minerals
 

I was just taking one of my supplements. It's in a powder form and includes calcium, magnesium, zinc and a number of other things. I just noticed that there's a message that I'd never seen before about storing it under 25 degrees celcius. :eek: Well, it's been much hotter than that here for months and will probably be so for a few more months and I'm wondering what on earth I should do to store it. 25C is only 77F.

Then I looked at a couple of other ones, and they say 'store below 30C'. 30C is 86F. Well that's not too bad, although it's often several C degrees hotter than that where I have them stored I'm sure. Where do people store their vitamins and minerals. I can put the others in the 'fridge I suppose, but am not sure about the powdered one. Can I put tablets in the 'fridge? Only one I keep in 'fridge usually is the acidophilus/bifidus inner health one.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm very sorry to talk about hot temperatures when you're all mostly in the midst of ice and snow but that's life here in the south lol way south that is. :o

yes you can put in the frig.
 

Also to consider is humidity...this is very destructive.

Magnesium for example is very hygroscopic and attracts moisture.

If you have alot of supplements you can ask your chemist/pharmacist to save the little moisture grabbers (do not eats) that come in RX drug bottles.
The best ones are those from medications with coatings on them (or sustained release) since the powder of the drugs does not contaminate them.
Kept in a ziploc baggie, they stay fresh. You can blow them with a hair dryer too to dry them out before reusing. I use these on vacation since we are on the water, and it gets so humid in our house even our mirrors steam up.

Don't put supplements in 30 day (or other large) planners if humid... the air gets into those
most of the time. Many vitamins start to oxidize with light/heat..like Vit C or other antioxidants. Often they become discolored as a clue, but you can't rely on that 100% as a sign.

Dear mrsd,
Thanks very much!

It's a very humid climate here. I never thought about those little moisture grabbing things. I'll do that. I'll also get a large ziplock bag. Only have tiny ones at the moment. What a great idea. I never use those little boxes with the days counted out. That wouldn't work well here. They'd disintegrate.
Thanks again for the great idea!

we are pretty hot and humid here most of the time too Lara, but have air conditioning running when the temps climb above mid 80s

I store all supps in a cool dark cupboard

Yeah, no aircon here. I just looked up the humidity earlier and it was over 80 at 6am in the morning. I was thinking the pantry would be alright, but it's pretty hot too. Sometimes the shampoo [and other products in the bathroom and even the water in the tap] comes out warm... it all just got me thinking when I read that about storing under 25C. I need not to perseverate about it too much I guess and just stick them in the 'fridge. lol