Here is an excerpt originally posted by EdK. Although he doesn't specify how long you can use a supplement without an expiration date, I don't think it is unreasonable to throw it after a year of use.



The first thing with any supplement is to look for the expiration date. If the supplement does not have a expiration date keep on looking, the reason for this is that the vitamin-mineral mixes will catalyze the oxidation of the various ingredients rendering them useless to the animals. The second thing to look for is D3 as this is the only isomer of vitamin D that can be used by amphibians and reptiles for calcium metabolism. The third item to look for is a 10 to 1 to 0.1 ratio of vitamin A to vitamin D3 to vitamin E. The fourth item is to look for a 2 to 1 ratio of calcium to phophorus.

Other items that can help make a supplement a better choice would be the use of betacarotene instead of retinol (vitamin A) as it is far less toxic and does not affect calcium metabolism. Also another point to keep in mind that over supplementation is just as bad as undersupplementation.
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...the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."

Aldo Leopold (1938)



"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."

Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

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• shelf life of vitamins/ supplements/ mineral all-- What are they? - clp, Wed Nov 19 15:30:23 2003
• RE: shelf life of vitamins/ supplements/ mineral all-- What are they? - Colchicine, Wed Nov 19 20:11:51 2003