Navigating a Supplemental World.
In today’s society, especially in the United States with the Standard American Diet going strong, it is hard for people to get a balanced diet that supplies all the macro and micro nutrients, such as essential amino acids, vitamins & minerals. In practice, I see many types of nutritional deficiencies through a variety of conditions. For this reason, many of the recommendations that are made are high quality, medical grade nutritional supplements.
First off lets address Storage. Storage for most supplements, for many people means putting them on a shelf either in the kitchen or bathroom… Now this is alright for those items that do not need to be refrigerated or are in a container that doesn’t allow light to pass through that will make the product either rancid or deactivate it. Sun heats things up changing its chemistry… therefore reading the back of the container is important on the suggestion of the company’s storage.
Lets take Fish oil for an example.
Liquid or capsules will need to be refrigerated. Just think about it… If you left a fish on your counter (which my guess you wouldn’t),
eventually it would smell terrible and start the breakdown process of the oils becoming rancid. Therefore this type of product regardless of the packaging needs to be refrigerated. If, you regurgitate fish oil, or it repeats itself, meaning you taste it well after you swallowed it, consider taking capsules. If, you already do take capsules and this continues, pop the entire bottle in the freezer, you might be amazed.
Other supplements that should be refrigerated:
Vitamin A
Vitamin D
Flax oil
Prim Rose oil
All Oils
All Fats
Minerals in liquid as the liquid will attack microbes that will grow a pretty bio-something…
Probiotics – why because they are activated by heat and food source, if you activate them without food, they die – making them essentially a very expensive dust.
Supplements to keep out of light: all B vitamins, dried herbs, essential oils. Most supplements that once thrived should be kept in the dark and cool areas so as not to reactivate, dehydrate or deactivate them.
In my house, This is how I store most supplements. There might be an occasional supplement that needs a specific requirement but that can usually be distinguished by reading the back of the label and following directions.
Curious about other considerations to take when selecting or buying supplements? leave a comment... We can write a post about it, and treat it as a forum. If, you had that question, I am sure others will as well.