Shelf, Heat And Dates

Storage guidance on a label runs to four words and gets ignored accordingly. Two minutes is worth spending, because the usual storage error is also the most natural one to make.

The bathroom problem. Medicine cabinets live in bathrooms and bathrooms run hot and humid several times a day. Heat and moisture degrade botanical material faster than anything else. The most natural place to keep a bottle is adjacent to the worst place for it.

What actually goes wrong. Moisture works into the shell and the powder clumps. Warmth speeds the decay of the more fragile plant compounds. Light contributes more mildly, and it is the reason these bottles are usually opaque. None of this is dramatic and all of it accumulates.

What to do instead. Room temperature, out of direct sun, lid properly closed. A kitchen cupboard away from the hob is close to ideal and has the useful side effect of sitting near the meal the capsule is meant to accompany.

Leave the sachet alone. The small packet inside is a desiccant and it is there to absorb the moisture that enters every time the bottle is opened. Discard it and the bottle loses its only defence against humidity.

Reading the date. On a supplement this is a best-before rather than a use-by: the manufacturer's statement about how long the declared contents can still be guaranteed at the declared amounts. A bottle slightly past it is a potency question rather than a safety one. A bottle badly past it, or one stored hot, is worth replacing rather than arguing with.

Why this matters on a six bottle order. A six month supply sits in a house for six months. Check the date on arrival, store the spares somewhere sensible, and open them in order. That is the whole maintenance burden.