Biotin Offers More Than Just Beauty Benefits

Many of you know the positive benefits that biotin can have on our hair, skin, and nails, but did you know it can do a lot more than improve your appearance? It is common to believe that dull nails, hair, and skin are due to a lack of biotin. Most of the time, this is not the case. It is likely caused by other deficiencies in the body.

How to get Biotin

B Vitamins help convert food into energy. Biotin, also known as Vitamin B7, can be ingested from food, pills/capsules, or liquids/drops. The efficiency of each may differ according to how your body converts, recognizes, or uses this vitamin. 

It’s important to understand that we can naturally ingest Biotin through proper food sources, that most people are not deficient. Also, it is water-soluble, so whatever your body doesn’t need will be excreted in the urine.

You can find small amounts of biotin in everyday foods like egg yolks, organ meats, nuts, soybeans, whole grains, bananas, mushrooms, and cauliflower. Cooking these foods render the biotin less effective, so eating these raw or in a less-processed form means you will be able to reap the benefits of more active biotin. We live in a world where food is highly processed, even the stuff we consider “natural”. Soils are not as potent and rich in minerals as they once were, due to conventional farming, so we are left with food that is plentiful, yet disappointingly, the quality is lacking.

Supplementing

Seeing as a lot of vitamins and minerals are lacking from our food, it’s safe to say we can supplement with Biotin. It plays an essential role in metabolizing proteins, carbs, and fats! According to the Mayo Clinic, adolescents and adults should be ingesting between 30-100mcg (micrograms) of biotin a day. It’s pretty rare to have a deficiency of it, and taking too much is a tough thing to do.

Keep in mind, consumption of raw eggs on a regular basis may cause biotin deficiency because avidin, a protein present in raw egg whites, strongly binds to biotin thus making biotin unavailable for intestinal absorption. Other than that, you are likely not going to become deficient if not supplementing.

Warnings

Like all supplements, Biotin comes with a few warnings. If you have any lab tests coming up, stop taking your supplements three days prior. Always speak to a doctor about whether or not taking Biotin is safe to add to your regimen.

For those who are deficient, it’s important to get a good quality supplement. This means doing your research and finding a reliable and potent source of it. Finding a liquid version of this supplement works well for those who take a different dose from day to day, or who may need a specific amount of Biotin, and do not want to take several capsules. 

Conclusion

Although Biotin seems to be great for hair, skin, and nails, scientists are delving deeper into the medicinal use of the supplement. There seems to be much more to this vitamin than we are giving it credit for, but the research isn’t out there just yet. There is little evidence that it helps to lower glucose levels over time. Even so, one study stated that it reduced symptoms of neuropathy in three diabetic subjects. For now, Biotin is a beauty supplement that has proven its’ worth for millions of users around the world simply looking for more luscious hair and plumper skin.