Biotin is available in two forms. The first is as Vitamin B7, naturally occurring in foods. The second is a processed herbal supplement available in most health shops. On the packaging, Biotin claims to help with improving the health of your nails, skin and hair. However, according to WebMD.com most people do not require Biotin supplements. Biotin occurs naturally in foods. Your body can even recycle Biotin you’ve already used. Thus genuine Biotin deficiency is very uncommon and rare.
Although Biotin’s use as a hair and nail supplement can thus be disputed, it’s definitely not a completely useless product. In an academic study, Biotin has helped with stopping and reversing Multiple sclerosis in humans if used in high dosages (1).
At this point in time, there are no accurate tests available for Biotin deficiency.
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How is Biotin manufactured
Let’s investigate how the supplement is manufactured. Biotin is commercially produced using Fumaric acid as a starting material. While Fumaric acid is synthetically produced from Malic acid in apples (2). Malic acid can make the skin brighter and smoothen its texture (3). In addition, Malic acid can potentially be of help to someone suffering from Fibromyalgia. However, you can get all the Malic acid your body needs from fruits and vegetables.
Thus, make sure that you consume sufficient fruits and vegetables daily.
Eat Foods High in Biotin
Judging from the above paragraphs, it makes sense that instead of buying a Biotin supplement for healthier hair, skin and nails, you should look up the foods containing Biotin. Then buy these foods instead. Examples of foods that contain more than enough Biotin:
- Nuts and seeds, including peanuts or peanut butter, almonds, walnuts, and sunflower seeds.
- Fruits e.g. apples, bananas and avocados.
- Vegetables e.g. spinach, sweet potato, carrots and cauliflower.
- Whole grains. Thus eat whole grain bread instead of white bread.
- Beans, lentils, and other legumes such as green peas.
- Egg yolks are a good source of Biotin, intended to feed the chicken embryo. On the other hand, raw egg whites contain a protein, Avidin, that inhibits Biotin absorption. But this is only a problem if you consume specifically raw (not cooked) egg whites in large quantities. Cooking deactivates Avidin.
- Other animal products such as tuna, chicken, beef liver, or dairy are good sources of Biotin as well.
Lastly, it’s important to realize that consuming too much alcohol will decrease nutrient absorption in general. And this definitely also applies to Biotin absorption.
How to Determine if your Supplements are Necessary
To ensure that Biotin will be of help to you in your specific situation, it is useful to look up relevant academic studies. However, the reality is that not everyone has the time to do their own academic research. Blind faith in supplement companies is definitely not wise, either. Supplements may claim health benefits which do not necessarily have a scientific basis. At the same time, other claims may be accurate.
You can potentially rely on the opinion of others who have used the supplements with success. In this case, there may be a placebo effect. This refers to when symptoms improve solely due to the power of the consumer’s belief in the product.
Otherwise, perhaps the user feels that the Biotin made their nails grow, but at the same time they stopped smoking or started eating healthier. Thus, it was the underlying lifestyle changes that made their nails or hair grow, and not the Biotin supplement.
Either way, your worst source of information is an overeager salesperson, who is simply trying to have as high turnover for that day as possible.
To buy Biotin, I recommend I-Herb, as they ship worldwide and is potentially the world’s most established online health store. It’s still wise to be skeptical of reviews on their product page, as these are not scientifically verified. Find out the (usually market-related or below market) price here, as it frequently changes.
Recent Biotin Academic Study
To further back up everything mentioned above, let’s investigate another recent Biotin academic review (4). Firstly, they mention how little research have actually been done to prove the efficiency of Biotin supplementation in healthy individuals. Secondly, they did find 18 documented cases of Biotin Supplementation in patients with the rare “underlying pathology for poor hair or nail growth“. In these cases, Biotin supplementation helped alleviate the symptoms of e.g. brittle nail syndrome or uncombable hair. But these were not healthy individuals.
For healthy Biotin supplement users, there is simply not enough evidence to suggest that synthetic supplementation with this naturally occurring Vitamin, has any benefits (whatsoever).
How do supplement companies get away with this? They often sell half-truths, for which consumers will fall. For example, we now know that the Biotin in your daily serving of fruits and vegetables will help your hair grow. Next, they take this dietary abundant Vitamin, put it in a bottle, and instead of telling you how abundant it is in a healthy diet, they put a price on it and make a profit.
Plus, these supplement companies can simply claim that they sell Biotin for the proven rare cases where it may be of help, and that they’re not trying to fool anyone healthy.
Biotin Health Benefits Conclusion
It’s good to try natural products, as natural alternatives have fewer side-effects than pharmaceuticals. But one must guard against spending money on useless natural supplements, in the same way as one would guard against pharmaceuticals with negative side-effects.
In conclusion, make sure that there is sufficient evidence that you’ll benefit from your supplementation instead of indiscriminately buying supplements. Biotin, as one example, may or may not benefit you. However, it is clearly up to the consumer to do his/her own research into whether it will be of help in a specific situation.
Next, read our blog post about 6 proven natural herbs for hair growth.
Have you ever tried Biotin supplements? What’s your view on Biotin health benefits? Post your questions or comments below!