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In recent times, health has become an important topic when flying on planes and when enjoying holidays in sunny countries.
As a result, more people are starting to add vitamins and minerals (most frequently in multivitamin supplement form) into their lifestyles and diets. Read our review of Performance Lab Multivitamin if you’re interested in what product we take on our travels.
However, it’s not always easy taking items on planes. And that’s exactly why you’re here, right? To find out the answer to your question “can you bring vitamins on a plane?”.
The good news is that we’ve spent days researching this and we’ll give the info that we use while flying ourselves. And we can confirm that we’ve never had any issues with boarding planes, so we’re doing something right.
TSA Rules for Bringing Vitamins on a Plane
For those hoping to take vitamins and minerals on their travels (and wanting to include them in their carry on luggage), we have some good news…
Under TSA (Transport Security Association) rules, you are able to take on as many vitamins and minerals, and multivitamin supplements, as you like in your carry on luggage on a plane. There are also no set limits to how much you can take on checked in luggage either.
Can you bring vitamins on a plane? Yes, and there are no limits set on the amount of solid form vitamins you can take on a plane – as long as they are in pill, capsule, gummies, or any other solid form.
However, there is one thing to note; if you usually take vitamins in liquid form, then there are different rules in place for these compared to vitamins that come in pill or other solid form.
There are different TSA rules to bringing liquid and solid pill/capsule form vitamins on a plane
The TSA have different rules for vitamins that come in other forms than solid pill or capsules, because they enforce different rules to liquid and gels in general.
So how much liquid or gel form vitamins can you bring on a plane? The answer is one quart sized bag full of travel sized containers of liquids or gels.
If you bring any more than 1 quart sized bag filled with individual 100ml travel size containers of liquid or gels, then they will be removed from your possession.
The TSA call this the 3-1-1 rule; 3 ounce containers of liquid placed in a 1 quart bag.
To make this clear and to give you examples, common travel items that must comply with the 3-1-1 liquids rule include shampoo, toothpastes, conditioner, mouthwash and lotion.
Can you bring gummy vitamins on a plane?
We mentioned that any solid form vitamins can be taken onto planes in your check in or carry on luggage with no problem.
As a result, we can safely confirm that the TSA accept gummy vitamins within this rule.
So, good news if your daily multivitamin is in a gummy form; you can indeed take gummy vitamins on a plane.
Softgel vitamins aren’t considered as liquid or gel form
If you have a multivitamin that comes in a softgel form, then you may be wondering where you lie in the TSA rules.
Are softgels considered as a liquid/gel or solid form?
To answer this question, we found that the Transport Security Association consider softgel vitamins to be solid form – so you will have no problem bringing softgel multivitamins on a plane.
Can You Take Unmarked Vitamins on a Plane?
Since we sometimes remove multivitamins or other supplements from the original containers to save space in our checking in or carry on luggage…
Another question we asked was whether you could take unmarked vitamins on a plane.
The official answer is that the TSA have no problem with travellers taking unmarked vitamins on a plane, providing they are in solid form (where there are no restrictions placed so you can take unlimited amounts onto your flight) or follow the 3-1-1 rule for liquids and gels we explained in the previous section of this article.
Our Tip: to keep unmarked vitamins in their own transparent bags
While you can take unmarked vitamins on a plane, we do recommend keeping them separate to the rest of your luggage in transparent containers or bags; this is so airport security can clearly see what they are, to avoid you being kept behind longer than necessary at check ins.
You can then easily follow the TSA rules for unmarked vitamins (or other supplements) to present them in a separate container or bag, which will then be x-rayed individually from the rest of your carry on luggage.
Be sure to check local laws in each country you visit as well as TSA rules
While the TSA allow unmarked vitamins to be taken onto flights, we strongly recommend that each traveler always checks the local laws of each country they visit too.
It’s important to note that even if the TSA allow you to take unmarked vitamins onto planes, local laws may still prevent you from doing so.
Conclusion: Can you take vitamins on a plane? Yes you can
Since we take a multivitamin supplement as part of our diet on a daily basis, we were very pleased when finding out that you can take vitamins on a plane with no issues.
The product we take comes in capsule form, which fits within the TSA rule for “solid form” supplements; for those that have skimmed to the conclusion without reading the rest of our article, you can take unlimited amounts of solid form vitamins (or any other supplements) in your check in or carry on luggage.
However, remember that the TSA have different rules when it comes to vitamins in liquid or gel form. If your vitamins are in liquid or gel form, you can only take 1 quart bag filled with individual containers of 100ml/3 ounce liquids and gels.
For those interested in seeing what other supplements they can take on a plane, check out our article titled: Can you bring melatonin on a plane.