What is biotin?

One of the B complex vitamins that aids in the body's ability to turn food into energy is biotin, often known as vitamin H.

Your skin, hair, eyes, liver, and nervous system all benefit from taking B vitamins, particularly biotin. Due to its significance for embryonic development, biotin is another essential nutrient during pregnancy.

The majority of individuals obtain all the biotin they require from a balanced diet, but there have been several claims that consuming additional biotin can help control blood sugar, encourage good hair, skin, and nails, and even help expectant mothers deliver healthier offspring.

Dosage

For adults and adolescents, a daily dose of biotin of between 30 and 100 micrograms (mcg) is frequently advised.

Extra biotin will simply flow through your body when you urinate because it is water-soluble. The majority of people can tolerate biotin supplements, although a small number of people have complained of nausea and stomach problems. Overdoses of biotin are not known to cause any hazardous effects.

Diabetes and supplements

People with type 2 diabetes may benefit from taking biotin supplements to help control blood glucose levels, according to some research, including one particular animal study.

Another such animal study suggests that biotin may assist persons with insulin-dependent type 1 diabetes to avoid kidney damage.

Deficiencies

Rare biotin deficits exist. However, given that those who are deficient frequently exhibit symptoms like hair loss or a scaly red rash, some medical professionals and supplement manufacturers advise boosting your consumption.

Embryonic development

Though it's uncommon, biotin deficiency can occur in pregnant women. Take a prenatal vitamin throughout pregnancy that contains folic acid and biotin to aid in promoting the health of the unborn child. However, high doses of biotin might be harmful to the developing baby, thus extra biotin supplementation is not advised.

Sources of biotin in nature

Many foods contain biotin as well, including:

• Egg white
• Animal organs (liver, kidney)
• Almonds, pecans, walnuts, and peanuts.
• Nutty spreads
• Legumes like soybeans and other
• Grains and cereals in general
• Cauliflower
• Bananas
• Mushrooms

Foods that are raw or minimally processed contain more active biotin since cooking and other processing methods can render it inactive.

Conclusion

Despite the importance of biotin in maintaining bodily functions and potential benefits for certain groups such as diabetics and pregnant women, there is limited scientific evidence supporting the use of biotin supplementation to improve the health of hair, skin, or nails.

With that stated, for your best health, it's always a good idea to consume a balanced, healthy diet consisting primarily of unprocessed or little processed foods.