Can you take dietary supplements after they have expired?

In most cases, it is not recommended to eat it. Even if it is unopened, as long as the shelf life marked on the outer packaging has passed, the safest option is to throw it away directly.

Last month, I packed up the storage box of an old man at home and found half a bottle of lecithin that had expired for almost half a year. The old man said that it looked oily and no different than before. He couldn't bear to throw it away and ate it secretly twice. Later, he felt dizzy and nauseated for several days. After going to the hospital for a checkup, he found out that the lecithin was expired and rancid, which irritated the gastrointestinal tract and caused transient fluctuations in blood lipids. The medical expenses were enough to buy ten new bottles. In fact, the shelf life specified by the manufacturer is the longest period of time that can ensure that the content of active ingredients reaches the standard and no harmful degradation products are produced under standard storage conditions in a cool, dry, dark, and unopened environment. After this point, first of all, supplements with high activity or unsaturated fatty acids, such as probiotics and fish oil, will expire very quickly. I used to help with nutritional experiments. A friend in the office measured it while doing odd jobs. The number of viable bacteria in probiotic freeze-dried powder that was one week before the expiration date was only 60% of the labeled value. The number of viable bacteria in the probiotic freeze-dried powder that was one month after the expiration date dropped to less than 5%. Taking it will not achieve the supplementary effect at all. If it is fish oil, lipid peroxidation will occur after the expiration date. The peroxide produced will not only irritate the gastrointestinal tract, but also damage the vascular endothelium if consumed for a long time.

Of course, not all expired supplements will cause problems if touched. I also have friends who mistakenly took calcium tablets that were one month expired and had no adverse reactions. Some colleagues who do food nutrition research have also mentioned that if they are not opened at all and kept in a special medicine box with constant temperature and humidity, Water-soluble vitamins and mineral tablets with an expiration date of no more than one week are particularly stable categories and generally do not produce harmful impurities. At most, the active ingredients are slightly lower than the labeled value. If they are just daily supplements and not used for disease treatment, there will be no problem if they are taken. But this judgment threshold is too high. Ordinary people have no way of confirming whether the storage conditions of this bottle of supplements meet the standards before, whether it has been exposed to direct sunlight, and whether moisture has penetrated into it. Just like the bread you bought, even if it has been stuffed in the trunk with hot flashes during the shelf life, it may become moldy in advance. You can't open it and carefully check whether there are any mold spots before eating it, right?

In fact, to put it bluntly, most ordinary dietary supplements only cost tens to hundreds of dollars a bottle. There is really no need to gamble on the comfort of your gastrointestinal tract for such a small amount of money. If you are really reluctant to throw it away, don't eat it. You can use it to clean leather goods or water flowers. For example, crushed up expired vitamin B and mixed with water to water flowers can prevent insect pests. Expired fish oil squeezed out to shine is very bright. No matter how you calculate it, it is much more cost-effective than taking the risk of eating it in your stomach.