Use By Dates for Vitamins and Supplements

Vitamins and herbs are often recommended as part of lifestyle advice.

If you purchase best quality vitamins and supplements it is highly recommended that you check the ‘best before’ and ‘use by dates’. If none is stated then it is best to seek out other brands.

Unlike pharmaceuticals, it is not compulsory to state the date for vitamins and supplements products. The shelf-life of supplements depends on:

• Temperature
• Moisture
• Oxygen
• Exposure to Light
• pH of the product
• Oxidising and reducing agents
• Presence of metallic ions (e.g. iron and copper)
• Presence of other ingredients
• Other components of food, such as sulphur dioxide
• Combinations of the above

It is likely that Vitamins B,D will have shorter half lives so they will disintegrate quicker. The same will apply to probiotics, which often require refrigeration.

The best advice is to consult with a Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) practitioner who should be able to offer you advice on purchasing the best over-the –counter remedies or preferably they can provide you with ‘practitioner line’ best quality vitamins and supplements which will be specific for your needs.

Cross- Infection Problem in Doctors’ Waiting Room

When parents bring their sick children to see their doctor or Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) practitioner, they spend time in the waiting rooms playing with toys. Many of these children have infectious disease, which can easily be transmitted to another child when they play with these toys at a later time. As parents we are concerned about the welfare of our kids and we should be aware of the potential of cross-infections from toys in public areas and should warn our kids not to put toys in their mouth. A poignant research study by Merriman et al in the February 2002 edition of British Journal of General Practice highlighted this issue.

They revealed that the toys in waiting rooms of GP surgeries are a potential source of cross-infection i.e.
Hard toys – low levels of contamination
Soft toys – 20% moderate to heavy coliform contamination
90% heavy bacterial contamination

Some Australian GP centres have now acted and removed children’s toys from their waiting rooms. Perhaps it is time that other GP clinics and Complementary and Alternative Medicine practices also follow suit. This also brings into question that improved guidelines regarding cleaning of toys in childcare centres needs to be reviewed.

This prevent cross-contamination due to toys, regular daily cleaning is required at the very least not only in GP surgeries, but also in childcare centres, family day care, OSHC centres and other educational centres.