B-Complex Vitamins – Biotin Health Benefits
Biotin is a supplement that is popular amongst people who are looking to improve the quality of their hair, reduce hair loss and develop strong nails.
Many beauty products, especially shampoos and hair tonics, contain biotin for this very reason. However, since biotin cannot be absorbed very well through the skin, it is usually added to products either as a result of ignorance on the manufacturers behalf or simply for marketing reasons to make a product sell better.
Unlike most vitamins, biotin is quite unique in the sense that it is one of the few vitamins that humans can actually make themselves from their intestinal bacterial.
As a result, a severe biotin deficiency is relatively rare in healthy individuals, although taking more in the form of supplements may still be desirable if one is looking to obtain the health benefits that we shall be discussing in this article.
Why Is Biotin Important?
Biotin is also known as vitamin B7, co-enzyme R, vitamin H (for hair and skin) or the beauty vitamin*. It is one of eight members of the vitamin B group complex as shown below:
• Vitamin B1 (thiamine)
• Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)
• Vitamin B3 (niacin)
• Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid)
• Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine)
• Vitamin B7 (biotin)
• Vitamin B9 (folic acid)
• Vitamin B12 (cobalamins)
*Biotin has gained a reputation as being good for the hair and nails because it activates the metabolism of amino acids in the hair shaft root and in fingernail cells, thus helping both to grow stronger.
All of the B-complex vitamins play many essential and important roles within the body, yet despite this, they are also one of the most overlooked family of vitamins.
If you would like to learn more about the B-complex vitamins as a whole, then please see the following two videos as they provide a very good summary of the numerous health benefits that the B vitamins provide. In the rest of this article, we shall be focusing exclusively on the health benefits of biotin.
Biotin is a water soluble B vitamin, and like most water soluble vitamins, you need to ensure that you are getting a constant daily supply in order to receive maximum health benefits from it.
The risk of overdose tends to be quite low due to its water solubility, but overdose is still technically possible if you were to take extremely large amounts at once. So if you are just taking regular supplements, then the risk of you experiencing any adverse reactions will be minimal.
Below, we look at some of the roles that biotin plays within the body, as this will allow you to better understand the benefits that it provides. If you are just interested in the benefits, then you can skip this section and go directly to the next section which summarizes the main health benefits of vitamin B7 for you.
Energy
Like most of the B-complex vitamins, vitamin B7 plays an essential role in energy metabolism by allowing you to get the energy that you need to run your body from the foods you consume. A breakdown or inefficiency in this process, would result in you feeling weak, tired and unable to think clearly or concentrate properly.
There are three main sources that energy can be obtained from in your diet. These are, proteins, such as meats, carbohydrates, such as vegetables, and fats, such as butter or oils. Biotin helps you to breakdown, or metabolize, these foods so that you can obtain energy from them. It does this by acting as a coenzyme to four very important enzymes.
Note: An enzyme is something that helps to speed up, or catalyze, a reaction in the body. A coenzyme is something that helps an enzyme to function properly and do its job as it should.
1) acetyl-CoA carboxylase
This enzyme is necessary for the creation of fatty acids. These can be either saturated or unsaturated, and when they are metabolized by the body they can provide it with large amounts of energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Fatty acids are also used throughout the body such as in cell membranes.
2) propionyl-CoA carboxylase
This enzyme is involved in gluconeogenesis which is a metabolic pathway that enables you to produce glucose from the foods you eat and then to keep your glucose levels within a normal range. If your blood glucose levels drop too low, something known as hypoglycemia, then you will start to feel very weak and tired and crave sugary foods.
3) b-methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase
This enzyme is necessary for the metabolism of an amino acid known as leucine. This is considered to be an essential amino acid because it cannot be synthesized in the body and so must be obtained from your diet.
4) pyruvate carboxylase
This enzyme is very important for the production of glucose, fats and neurotransmitters.
As you can see from these four enzymes, vitamin B7 plays an essential role in helping energy metabolism to occur normally as it should do. Without enough biotin in your diet, these processes would not be able to occur optimally, which subsequently, will prevent you from experiencing optimal levels of health as a result.
Furthermore, some of these enzymes, such as acetyl-CoA carboxylase which are involved in helping the body to produce fat, can affect your external appearance also. Fat is an important component of cell membranes, and so if acetyl-CoA carboxylase is not functioning optimally, then you may start to experience skin problems.
Neonatal seborrhoeic dermatitis for example, is a type of skin inflammation that occurs in biotin deficient infants. So without proper fat production in the body, your skin is likely to be dry, itchy and become inflamed easily. All of which, will lead to premature aging of the skin.
What Are The Health Benefits Of Vitamin B7?
Many of the health benefits that biotin provides the body with come as a result of the effects it has on enzymes that are involved in energy metabolism. Some of the main health benefits of vitamin B7 have been summarized below:
• Needed for the proper metabolism of proteins, carbohydrates and fats.
• Essential for maintaining your energy levels.
• Known as a beauty vitamin due to its beneficial effects on skin, hair and nails.
• Helps to maintain normal blood sugar levels and so may reduce the risk of diabetes.
• Promotes a healthy nervous system.
• Can be using for treating dry skin conditions such as eczema and inflammatory conditions such as dermatitis.
• May help to promote weight loss by getting rid of excess fat deposits within the body.
• Helps to reduce cholesterol levels.
• Benefits the heart.
• Some find biotin helpful for hair loss.
• Important for eye health.
• Promotes optimal functioning of sweat glands and so may help assist in detoxification of the body.
• Can help to prevent fatigue.
• Plays a role in the formation of nucleic acids.
• A deficiency may increase the likelihood of yeast infections such as candida.
• Helpful for mood regulation.
Vit-B7 Videos
How Much Vitamin B7 Do You Need?
The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for biotin is 30 mcg, although some people take up to 5000 mcg if they are trying to reduce hair loss or improve the condition of their hair or nails.
Note: People with a type A blood type are less able to absorb B vitamins than other blood types. As a result, such individuals are more likely to become deficient in biotin, and so may benefit from taking higher doses than those with other blood types.
Where Do You Get It From?
Biotin can be found in nuts and seeds. There are significant quantities of biotin in offal and whole eggs.
Note: Avidin, a protein found in egg whites, can bind to biotin and prevent its absorption by the body. However, this is only a concern for those who consume raw egg whites as cooking eggs deactivates avidin. So if you are eating fried eggs or boiled eggs, then they will still be a good source of biotin.
What Causes A Deficiency?
Optimum levels of biotin come from gut bacteria which can make up to five times the amount supplied by dietary sources. However, this biotin is easily lost if the beneficial gut bacteria are destroyed by antibiotics, or if a person consumes a high sugar diet that causes an overgrowth of bad bacteria. For the large majority of people though, a true biotin deficiency tends to be quite rare.
Those most likely to become deficient in biotin are smokers, vegans, vegetarians, heavy alcohol drinkers and people who consume a lot of raw egg whites.
Signs Of Deficiency
Some of the signs that you may be suffering from a biotin deficiency are:
• Delayed blood clotting
• Heavy periods
• Dry & scaly skin
• Hair loss
• Brittle hair/nails
• Fatigue
• Depression
• Anemia
• Dermatitis
• Dry/itchy scalp
• Thinning hair
Who Needs Biotin Supplements?
Although biotin is widely available in foods, it is present in quite low levels compared to other B vitamins and some studies suggest that food based biotin also has a low bioavailability, meaning that it is not absorbed very well from food.
As a result, most people are not getting enough biotin in their diet, and when this is combined with eating unhealthy foods such as processed or refined foods and/or the use of prescription drugs/antibiotics, biotin levels in the body can be reduced even further.
However, it should be noted that one doesn’t need to take biotin supplements in order to prevent a deficiency, as you should be getting enough from your food and from your own gut bacteria to prevent a deficiency from occurring. So those who do take biotin supplements, generally do so for cosmetic reasons such as to improve the appearance of their hair, skin and nails. Hence why biotin is commonly referred to as a beauty vitamin.
If you are trying to lead a healthy lifestyle, then you may require biotin supplements until you are able to successfully change your diet and promote the growth of beneficial gut bacteria which produce biotin.
Finally, breastfeed babies may require extra biotin as there is little biotin in breast milk, especially if a mother is suffering from diarrhoea.
Biotin is considered to be an extremely non toxic vitamin. Some studies have reported no adverse symptoms in people who have taken 5mg/day of vitamin B7 for two years. Those who may experience adverse reactions from biotin supplements are those who are unable to metabolize biotin properly.
Best Foods Sources
Some of the best food sources to obtain biotin naturally from your diet include:
• Chicken liver
• Boiled eggs
• Kidney
• Mixed nuts
• Peanuts
• Almonds
• Peanut butter
• Brewers yeast
