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Overview:
Biotin (vitamin B7) is a micronutrient vital to energy production, nervous system health, and other bodily functions.
Biotin Deficiency:
- Hair Thinning
- Hair Loss
- Brittle Nails
- Red, scaly rash, around eyes, nose and mouth
- Unusual facial fat distribution
- Skin infections
- Conjuctivitis
- Neurological Issues (Depression, tiredness or hallucinations)
- Decreased muscle tone
- Sluggishness
- Developmental Delay (Infants)
Uses For Biotin
Hair and Nail Health
Biotin is often touted as a hair loss treatment. Some proponents claim that biotin-containing products make your hair stronger and more luscious. However, science only supports biotin for hair growth if a confirmed biotin deficiency has caused your hair loss.
Biotin supplementation is sometimes used to treat brittle, worn-down nails. It is also used to treat nail conditions like trachyonychia, or rough nails, a condition that is associated with alopecia.
Clinical trials have found evidence that biotin supplementation can improve these conditions and your nails’ firmness, hardness, and thickness. However, these trials are small, and more research is needed.
Blood Sugar Control
A small body of research suggests that biotin supplementation may improve blood sugar control in some people with type 2 diabetes. It’s thought that biotin accelerates the conversion of glucose into energy, preventing blood sugar from climbing too high. More research is needed to determine how exactly biotin may be used for this purpose.
Neuropathy
There is some evidence that biotin supplementation may improve symptoms of peripheral neuropathy. High-dose pharmaceutical-grade biotin in patients with demyelinating neuropathies: a phase 2b open label, uncontrolled, pilot study.
This complication can be found in people who develop nerve damage as a complication of type 2 diabetes. However, researchers have yet to conduct clinical trials to study biotin supplementation for this purpose. Again, more research is needed.
Hyperlipidemia
Biotin may promote the breakdown and transformation of lipids known as triglycerides and cholesterol in the body. This process is known as lipid metabolism. In turn, biotin supplementation may help prevent hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol). High LDL cholesterol, or “bad cholesterol,” is a common problem in people with diabetes. Some research has shown that biotin supplementation may help keep LDL cholesterol levels low, especially in people with diabetes.