Why is biotin important for your health?

Biotin belongs to the family of water-soluble B complex vitamins, commonly known as Vitamin H or B-7 Vitamin. This vitamin plays a vital role in regulating your body's metabolic processes, helping to convert food into energy.

Health Benefits:

Biotin provides several health benefits, including:

Hair Thickening

One of the significant roles of biotin in hair health is; it increases hair growth, makes the hair thick, and looks more lustrous. Hair looks healthier, beautiful, and grows quickly. Remember that people with any digestive disease cannot utilize this vitamin from food, so they must take supplements.

Nail Health

Biotin is essential in strengthening the nails. Higher doses of biotin are beneficial for nail health. The research has shown that increasing biotin intake can cause a 25 % thickening of nails and reduces nail breakage and splitting.

Skin Health

Vitamin H is vital for skin nourishment. The deficiency of biotin causes dry, itchy, and scaly skin. Severe deficiency can lead to acne or psoriasis (a skin disorder in which skin cells multiply ten times faster and make the skin red with white patches, it may occur at the elbow, lower back, scalp, and knees).  Furthermore, it regulates fat metabolism, which influences skin health.

Enhances Mood and Energy

Biotin takes part in the metabolism of fats, protein, and carbohydrates. It also acts as a coenzyme in the synthesis of amino acids and fatty acids. If you do not take the right amount of B complex vitamins, your body will not use the energy. Lack of biotin induces fatigue, weakness, mood swings, and digestive problems.

Helps in Weight Management

Vitamin H is also helpful in weight management as this vitamin plays a role in macronutrients' metabolism. Hence, a high biotin level increases the rate of resting energy metabolism. This factor helps in weight reduction but keep in mind biotin is not used as weight loss pills. It just helps the body to lose weight in combination with physical activity and a regular balanced diet.

Symptoms of Biotin Deficiency

Lack of biotin can cause many problems, including:
Brittle nails
Itchy, dry, scaly skin
Flaky, dry hair, and alopecia areata ( patchy hair loss)
Congenital disabilities in pregnant women
Diabetic neuropathy ( nerve pain in people with diabetes)
Muscle cramps

Food Sources

Leafy green vegetables, yeast, cheese, egg yolk, cauliflower, nuts, and beans are rich in biotin. Your intestine can also synthesize biotin cereals, and dairy products are poor sources. 

Dosage guidelines

The daily dosage guidelines include the following:
0 to 3 years:10 to 20 micrograms (mcg)
From 4 to 6 years:25 micrograms (mcg)
From 7 to 10 years:30 microgram (mcg)
For adolescents/adults (both male and female) : 30 to 100 microgram (mcg)

Side Effects

Overconsumption of biotin has no severe negative effect, but you should take the supplement with food to minimize the risk. Studies have found some minor undesired effects of biotin supplements, including diarrhea, cramping, and nausea.

Take Away

Typically, your body can synthesize enough biotin to meet your body requirements. Therefore, there is no need to consume biotin supplements in such cases. However, if you are suffering from any hair, skin, or nail problem, increase your biotin intake. Consult your physician if supplementation is required to meet the additional needs.

References

Lipner, S.R., 2018. Rethinking biotin therapy for hair, nail, and skin disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 78(6), pp.1236-1238.
Bonjour JP. Biotin in human nutrition. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1985;447:97-104. View abstract.
Lipner, S.R. and Scher, R.K., 2018. Biotin for the treatment of nail disease: what is the evidence? Journal of Dermatological Treatment, 29(4), pp.411-414.
Mock, D.M., 2017. Biotin: from nutrition to therapeutics. The Journal of nutrition, 147(8), pp.1487-1492.