Check where you store your vitamins

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Where you store your daily vitamin could impact its effectiveness.

You might want to think twice the next time you grab your vitamins out of the medicine cabinet. Purdue Associate Professor of Food Science Lisa Mauer said vitamins stored in more humid areas like bathrooms and kitchens, could lose their health benefits. She said high humidity levels can change the chemical makeup of Vitamin C and some B-vitamins.

"At some humidity - it depends on the other ingredients that are present - Vitamin C will dissolve and once it dissolves it is very chemically unstable so it degrades very quickly," Mauer said.

She said within a week, you could have a complete loss of vitamins in some products.

"The longer the vitamins sit and the more you open and close those bottles the more likely you are to get degradation occurring," Mauer said.

She said the best place to store your vitamins and supplements is in a dry place with lids on tight. Don't use the refrigerator but the freezer is a good spot free from moisture.

"Storing vitamins and pharmaceuticals in the bathroom is the worst place you can choose to store them so just try to store them somewhere else," Mauer said.

And for those of you who can't resist a good deal and buy vitamins in bulk, Mauer offered this advice.

"What you might want to do is just take out part of that, have another bottle sitting around and put the rest of them in the freezer and then just take them our later," Mauer said.

Regardless of where you store them, Mauer said you can tell if your vitamins have gone bad if there are brown spots on the pills or if they become soft. She says to throw them out and start fresh.