Is it okay to take expired folic acid?

Folic acid is an essential nutrient for the human body. Women in particular should check their folic acid levels regularly during pregnancy preparation or early pregnancy. If the body's folic acid level is low, it must be supplemented in time. To supplement folic acid, you can eat foods containing folic acid. In addition to food, you can also take folic acid tablets orally to supplement folic acid. Is it okay to eat expired folic acid? Let’s take a look at it next.

1. Is it okay to take expired folic acid?

Folic acid is a water-soluble vitamin. Once it enters the body, it will be excreted with the metabolism of body fluids and will not accumulate excessively in the body. Once folic acid expires, the probability of adverse reactions due to qualitative changes is relatively small, and it generally loses its effectiveness. Therefore, as long as there is no obvious discomfort after taking expired folic acid, there is no need to worry too much. In principle, it is not recommended to take medicines that have passed their expiration date.

First, find out what the expiration date of a drug is. Generally speaking, the shelf life of a drug refers to the period during which its quality can be maintained under certain storage conditions. This period is set by the manufacturer after stability tests and long-term sample retention and observation tests. It is the shelf life of the drug quality. Within the validity period, the manufacturer can guarantee the effectiveness and safety of the drug. Drugs with different stability must have different validity periods. During this period, the manufacturer is responsible for the quality of the drugs that are unopened and stored in accordance with the storage conditions required by the instructions, and the manufacturer bears full responsibility for all adverse consequences caused by drug quality problems. In other words, there is no obvious difference in quality between newly produced drugs and drugs that are about to expire, and the therapeutic effects of the drugs can be guaranteed.

As for whether expired medicines are effective or even whether they will deteriorate and affect health. Pharmacist Xiao Xianglin believes that this cannot be generalized. First of all, the deterioration of medicines is a slow process, and this process is different for different medicines. However, for drugs that have passed their expiration date, whether it is one day or one month past the expiration date, there is no guarantee that they will become ineffective or deteriorate, because this is beyond the period of data obtained from the manufacturer's stability test and long-term sample retention observation test. At the same time, the speed at which drugs change is affected by factors such as drug ingredients, storage environment, or whether they have been opened and used. If any problems occur when using expired medicines, the manufacturer will no longer bear any responsibility. In general, expired medicines cannot be guaranteed in terms of quality, efficacy or even legal aspects, so it is not recommended to use them.

It is worth mentioning that the shelf life is based on storage in accordance with storage requirements. Drugs may also change if they are not stored properly. Therefore, even within the validity period, it is not recommended to use the drug if its appearance has changed. In addition, once the medicine is opened, it may produce a chemical reaction once it comes into contact with light or air. In addition, it is also possible that the medicines may be contaminated during use, so once the medicines are opened they cannot be used according to the shelf life, especially liquid medicines. Even if it is kept in the refrigerator, it is difficult to guarantee whether the quality or efficacy has changed.

2. What is folic acid

Folic acid is one of the B vitamins that was discovered and separated in the mid-to-late 1940s. It was named because it was initially extracted from spinach leaves. In fact, folic acid is a general term for a group of compounds with similar chemical structures and similar biochemical properties. Scientists named it "pteroylpolyglutamate", which is mainly composed of three substances: pteridine, para-aminobenzoic acid and glutamic acid.

In addition, folic acid is a water-soluble B vitamin that exists in all life systems, from viruses and bacteria to humans. Because it was originally extracted from spinach leaves, it is called folic acid. After entering the human body, folic acid in food is converted into tetrahydrofolic acid, which plays a physiological role in the body. The total amount of folic acid in the body is only 5 to 6 mg, but it is involved in almost all biochemical metabolic processes and in the synthesis of many important substances in the body such as protein, deoxyribonucleic acid, hemoglobin, etc. This plays an important role in cell division and growth.

3. Notes

For pregnant women, folic acid is an essential substance for the growth and reproduction of body cells. It is an indispensable nutrient for fetal growth and development. Folic acid deficiency in pregnant women may lead to low birth weight, cleft lip, heart defects and other diseases in the fetus. If there is a lack of folic acid in the first three months of pregnancy, it can cause neural tube defects in the fetus and lead to malformations. Therefore, women who are planning to become pregnant should start taking folic acid supplements three months before pregnancy until after the breastfeeding period. Experts point out: Even if it is not possible to supplement throughout the pregnancy, at least 400 micrograms must be supplemented daily in the early stages of pregnancy (3 months from the date of pregnancy).