Apparently, and this is interesting, storing vitamins and supplements in the kitchen or bathroom is bad news. Why? The high humidity present in those areas could be degrading (even if the lids are tight).
You don’t say.
A Prude University study shows that crystalline substances, including vit C and vit B are prone to a process called deliquescence, a fancy word for what happens when humidity causes water soluble substances to dissolve.
“You might see salt or sugar start to cake in the summer, start to form clumps, and that’s a sign of deliquescence,” said Lisa Mauer, an associate professor of food science, whose findings were published in the early online version of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. “You can also get chemical instabilities, which are a little more problematic if you’re consuming a dietary supplement with vitamin C for that vitamin C content.”
“If you get some moisture present or ingredients dissolve, they’ll decrease the quality and shelf life of the product and decrease the nutrient delivery,” Mauer said. “You can get complete loss of the ingredients. It depends on the conditions. It depends on the formulations. Within a very short time — in a week — you can get complete loss of vitamin C in some products that have deliquesced.”
The authors point out that every time you open a container of vitamins in a moist environment — say, the bathroom — you are adding more moisture and humidity to it.
So the point? To help the effectiveness of these substances, we must keep them away from warm, humid environments.
Learn more about the study here.
