Cheap Vitamins etc?

Need_More_Money_2

I think it is true to say that there is little (or no?) evidence that vitamin/mineral supplements do any good. This doesn't mean that they don't work, just that we don't know one way or the other. It isn't really in the interests of the companies to fund such research since people seem to spend huge sums of money on them anyway. It seems odd that they are not covered by the same legislation as medicines which have to have evidence to back up their claims of benefits.

There is no doubt that vitamins obtained naturally in food are essential, but it is whether your body can properly utilise those from pills that has not been shown so far as I am aware.

Lychee

My multivitamins are coming up to their best before date, is it dangerous to take after the BB date?

Jays

Lychee wrote:

My multivitamins are coming up to their best before date, is it dangerous to take after the BB date?

Yes, hand them back to a pharmacist for disposal.

haveagoade

"are coming up to their best by"........was the statement, so there's nothing wrong with them!, so Jays you are wrong!

Best before's are not a magical time bomb, ticking away anyway, if there are in good condition and have been stored correctly, there is unlikely to be any danger in taking them at oo.o1 am the day after the BBE date.

Jays

haveagoade wrote:

"are coming up to their best by"........was the statement, so there's nothing wrong with them!, so Jays you are wrong!

Best before's are not a magical time bomb, ticking away anyway, if there are in good condition and have been stored correctly, there is unlikely to be any danger in taking them at oo.o1 am the day after the BBE date.

Lychee's question was "is it dangerous to take after the BB date?"

Realistically, I don't thing Lychee was asking about the minute after midnight of the BB date, which I agree would not be a problem in itself.

However, being a registered nurse I would not give any out of date medication to any patient and if anyone asked this question I would recommend they return the out of date medication to their pharmacist for disposal. Which is what I did.

Need_More_Money_2

Jays wrote:

Lychee's question was "is it dangerous to take after the BB date?"

Realistically, I don't thing Lychee was asking about the minute after midnight of the BB date, which I agree would not be a problem in itself.

However, being a registered nurse I would not give any out of date medication to any patient and if anyone asked this question I would recommend they return the out of date medication to their pharmacist for disposal. Which is what I did.

It is the correct advice but realistically it would probably be quite safe to take for quite a long time afterwards. There is likely to be a huge safety margin included in calculating the BB date. I'd guess that after the BB date the items just become inactive (if they weren't inactive already) rather than dangerous.
Of course the reason you wouldn't give patients out of date medication is because if the patient became ill (probably due to something else) you could never prove it wasnt due to the out of date medication and you'd be sued

haveagoade

If medecine/tablets do not work, due to passing BBE date's then this can serious consequences.

If Vitamins don't work...............no big deal!

EdInvestor

I think it is true to say that there is little (or no?) evidence that vitamin/mineral supplements do any good.

If you have a deficiency of a vitamin, and then take enough of it to remedy that deficiency, then you will almost certainly notice that they have an effect.

eg Smokers often are deficient in vitamin C. People who drink a lot are often deficient in the B vitamins.

If you don't have a deficiency and take the vitamins to keep yourself in that state, then you probably wouldn't notice a lot of difference if you stopped taking them for a while. This is because deficiencies take quite a while to develop and start producing symptoms.

Need_More_Money_2

EdInvestor wrote:

If you have a deficiency of a vitamin, and then take enough of it to remedy that deficiency, then you will almost certainly notice that they have an effect.

But has that been scientifically shown in a large group of subjects? I don't know the literature but I have been given the impression that there have been no large scale trials

Hewitt51

snakey wrote:

can anyone please specify a decent web site, as in terms of experience, where to buy Vitamins from? I did a Google search and there are hundreds! Or is it just as well to buy from a Chemist/Supermarket?

Thanks

http://www.simplysupplements.co.uk

Used them not so long ago, very quick delivery and very competitive prices.

haveagoade wrote:

So.............look at bit harder and avoid zipvit.

haveagoade, I also had a bad experience with ZipVit and will never use them again.