# How long do vitamins last.



## R (Jun 13, 2006)

Ok, I know i won't ask this in the best way but I hope you understand the question. 

For most essential vitamins how long generally do they last in your system? 

I know for stuff like Vitamin C you pee out any extra you intake but out of the rest that your body takes in is it immediatlly, does it go right to your cells? is there a storage system and if so how long generally last? whats the capacity and such? 

I take it, it isn't stored in fat...and that some are used more and such but I am asking generally. So sorry for the many question but i am interested but ignorant with this. Can anyone spread some light on this?


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## Blue Oval (Oct 18, 2006)

cant really help you here, but i saw a study on vitamin C. as soon as you take it you start to excrete it out, and they found that 500mg twice a day was just enough so you excreted barely at all. take any more and you have expensive pee, take any less and you are not saturated with vitamin C. The fat soluble vitamins, A, D, E and K should stay in your system longer. So ill say taking a regular multivitamin once a day should be good enough, remember your getting vitamins from all the fruits and veggies you eat (yea right like i eat them) so the vitamin should be good enough to supplement your diet


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## JohnBlaze (Nov 21, 2006)

I've read from a few sources that the half-life of Vitamin C is around 30 minutes; it's quickly metabolized by the body and out of your blood serum in about an hour. Good news is it accumulates in certain organs at much higher levels than blood serum so it isn't wasted per se.
B Vitamins as a group generally last 4-6 hours, as they are water-soluble and your kidney's manage their trip.
Vitamins A, E, D, and K are all lipophilic(fat-soluble) and accumulate in fat cells and then are slowly released with the lipids, sorta like the action of sustained release medications.
My current regime is to take a multivitamin/multimineral/phytonutrient complex (Ortho-Core) three times a day. This keeps the B Vitamins at somewhat linear levels. I also munch on Vitamin C lozenges, instead of candy, thruout the day as I feel like. (Linus Pauling recomends eating 3-5 grams of Vitamin C a day, I get no were near this or toxic numbers)


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