What You Need to Know About B7 Biotin, a Super nutrient
Biotin is one of the nutrients that people talk about the most when they talk about health and nutrition. Everyone talks about how important this little biotin is and how it helps our cells make energy.
It can be found in foods like eggs, beans, wheat germ, and psyllium.
Without biotin, we wouldn’t have enough energy and our skin, hair, and nails would be in bad shape. Biotin is also called vitamin H or Q, which stands for co-factor. Even though they are very different, these two vitamins are very important when it comes to how our bodies make energy.
What you eat changes how much of each you get. In this article, we’ll tell you all you need to know about Biotin, an important nutrient.
What is Biotin? How can it help you?
Biotin is a B vitamin that is an essential nutrient, a Super nutrient, that can be found in some foods or taken as a supplement.
This vitamin dissolves in water and helps five enzymes do their jobs.
Biotin helps you get the energy you need from the carbs, fats, and proteins in the food you eat.
How much should I take of Biotin?
How much biotin you need each day is based on how old you are. In micrograms, here are the average amounts that should be taken every day (mcg).
Recommended Amount for Each Life Stage:
- 5 mcg from birth to 6 months
- 7–12-month-old babies 6 mcg
- Children ages 1–3 8 mcg
- Children ages 4–8 12 mcg
- Children ages 9–13 20 mcg
- 14–18-year-olds 25 mcg
- People older than 19 30 mcg
- Pregnant teens and women 30 mcg
- Women who breastfeed 35 mcg
What Foods Have Biotin?
How much biotin is in food depends on what kind of food it is.
Liver and eggs are two of the foods that have the most biotins.
On the other end of the spectrum, milk, cheese, and yogurt have the least amount of biotin.
If you want to get the most biotin from food, it’s best to eat foods with the most biotin.
Biotin is found in high amounts in vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower, beans like kidney and garbanzo, whole grains like oats and whole wheat bread, whole nuts like almonds and walnuts, and fish like sardines. See list.
Do I get enough Biotin from what I eat?
Yes. You probably think that you’ve been eating enough biotin and just don’t know it. Even though everyone has different amounts of biotin in their bodies, most people need between 20 and 35 mcg of biotin every day.
Not enough biotin
Most people are lucky enough to have enough biotin in their bodies so that one meal is enough to make them feel full.
But if you don’t get enough of this nutrient in your daily diet, you might feel tired or have a foggy mind. Biotin can be found in foods like nuts, seeds, beans, eggs, and vegetables. If you don’t eat enough of these foods, you might want to think about putting more of them on your menu.
Problems that are known to come from Biotin
As we’ve just talked about, biotin is good for our health and necessary for it. But that doesn’t mean that biotin deficiency is the cause of every health problem that happens when this nutrient is missing.
Having too little biotin can also cause a few other things, such as:
changes to the eyes,
wrinkles and fine lines,
hair loss, and dry skin.
Can too much biotin be bad for your health?
Hyper biotic syndrome
is a condition that can happen if you take in too much biotin. When the body makes too much of this nutrient, this is what happens. Biotin can cause problems like trouble sleeping, skin rashes, stomach upset, insulin problems, and problems with the kidneys.
Medicines with Biotin
Biotin is important for our health, as we’ve already talked about, but what if we’re taking medicine that might make us take in less biotin? In this case, the doctor or pharmacist can change the medicine to make it more or less rich in biotin. Some medicines, like birth control pills, may not be able to be changed to a certain level of biotin. Before using biotin, you should talk to a doctor or pharmacist about:
- carbamazepine
- phenobarbital
- phenytoin; or
- primidone.
Extra Biotin Facts: What else can it do?
It also has to do with:
- controlling the cell wall,
- Skin health,
- hair health,
- and nails that are healthier.
Biotin may also have an effect on other hormones and bodily functions, such as
- cancer prevention,
- helping to keep the nervous system in good shape,
- a good blood pressure level.
- It may also help the immune system work better
- and treat skin conditions like psoriasis.
Last Words
Biotin is an important nutrient that can be found in many foods and is important for our health. As we talked about in this article, you can find biotin in
Liver (from beef or lamb), eggs, beans, and seeds are all good sources of liver. But too much of this nutrient can be bad, and it can even make the body run out of biotin. So, how much biotin should you take, and how long should you take it? That’s up to you to decide. If you take vitamins, your body will thank you.
I strongly recommend reading: Herbal Remedies For Skin Problems and Best way to improve concentration and memory while studying
Sources:
- Institute of Medicine. Dietary reference intakes: the essential guide to nutrient requirements. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2006.
- Combs GF, Jr. Biotin. In: Combs GF, Jr., ed. The vitamins: fundamental aspects in nutrition and health. Third ed. Burlington, MA: Elsevier Academic Press; 2008:331-44.
- Mock DM. Biotin. In: Coates PM, Betz JM, Blackman MR, et al., eds. Encyclopedia of Dietary Supplements. 2nd ed. London and New York: Informa Healthcare; 2010:43-51.
- Said HM. Biotin: the forgotten vitamin. Am J Clin Nutr 2002;75:179-80. [PubMed abstract]
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Food Labeling: Revision of the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels. 2016.
- National Institutes of Health. Dietary Supplement Label Database. 2017.
- Zempleni J, Mock DM. Bioavailability of biotin given orally to humans in pharmacologic doses. Am J Clin Nutr 1999;69:504-8. [PubMed abstract]
- Perry CA, West AA, Gayle A, Lucas LK, Yan J, Jiang X, et al. Pregnancy and lactation alter biomarkers of biotin metabolism in women consuming a controlled diet. J Nutr 2014;144:1977-84. [PubMed abstract]
- Wolf B. Biotinidase deficiency and our champagne legacy. Gene 2016;589:142-50. [PubMed abstract]
- .hsph.harvard.edu
- ods.od.nih