We lose about 50 to 100 scalp hairs each day. If you feel like you’re losing more hair than that, though, you might want to turn to biotin.
What exactly is the biotin vitamin? Does biotin make your hair grow fast? What biotin benefits can you experience beyond hair growth?
Keep reading to find out! In this guide, we’ll review everything you need to know about the biotin vitamin before adding it to your routine.
Discover the beautiful benefits of biotin for hair growth today!
What Is Biotin?
Biotin is actually one of the eight B vitamins your body needs to function properly. This B vitamin is responsible for converting the food you need into energy. It also plays a part in your hair, nail, and skin health.
Biotin is also known as vitamin B-7 or vitamin H.
It’s important to note that the biotin vitamin is water-soluble. Since your body is incapable of storing water-soluble vitamins, you’ll need to get vitamin B-7 through your diet. You can also take supplements to make sure you get enough biotin each day.
The recommended daily dietary intake of biotin about 30 mcg a day.
Your body utilizes a group of enzymes called carboxylases. These enzymes play a part in your body’s metabolic processes by producing fatty acids and glucose.
Glucose is a type of sugar. Since glucose isn’t available for energy production, your body uses fatty acids to provide your cells with energy instead.
Biotin Deficiency
Though biotin deficiency is rare, it can happen, namely with pregnant women. Women who are nursing need a higher amount of biotin (about 35 mcg). Failing to get enough biotin through your diet or supplementation could also cause a deficiency.
Drinking copious amounts of alcohol could cause a mild deficiency as well.
Does biotin make your hair grow fast? There’s currently limited evidence to suggest increasing your biotin intake will promote hair growth. Without biotin, however, you might experience hair loss.
Researchers are still trying to determine the exact effect biotin has on your hair growth. In one study, women with thinning hair were given a supplement that contained biotin. Women who took the biotin vitamin experienced more hair growth and less shedding than those who took a placebo.
During the course of another study, participants experienced hair growth and quality improvement after 90 days of using biotin.
In addition to hair loss, a biotin deficiency could also cause you to develop a scaly rash on your skin.
Before taking a biotin vitamin, consider speaking with your doctor. They can complete blood work to determine if you’re biotin deficient. They can also help you determine the right daily intake based on your health goals or needs.
The Benefits
Does biotin make your hair grow fast? Though taking biotin for hair can help, this vitamin can benefit your health in other ways, too. Here are a few biotin benefits to consider before adding it to your supplement plan.
1. Hair Growth
One of the main reasons people start taking a biotin vitamin is for their hair health. There are also hair products that include biotin to help you grow stronger, healthier hair.
However, you shouldn’t believe every product that encourages you to use biotin for hair growth. Instead, take the time to review each product before purchasing it. Make sure these products use natural ingredients.
Otherwise, they might do more harm than good to your hair.
Since a biotin deficiency can cause your hair to fall out, taking a biotin vitamin might produce better results than alternative hair growth methods.
For example, hair transplants cost between $4,000 and $15,000. Instead of turning to hair loss treatments, consider using biotin for hair growth. A daily biotin supplement can help you save money and experience longer, healthier locks.
Want to start using biotin for hair yourself? Consider trying these organic hair supplements. By supplementing your diet with the right vitamins and nutrients, you can improve your hair health a little more each day!
If you want to further improve your hair health, consider eating other hair-healthy foods. For example, you can eat fatty fish like salmon, Brazil nuts, and eggs to improve your hair health.
2. Converts Food Into Energy
Biotin is responsible for helping your body breaking down the food you eat to convert that food into energy. In order to help your body, biotin supports the enzymes that break down the carbs, portions, and fats you eat each day.
First, biotin helps with the gluconeogenesis process. This process involves the synthesis of glucose from amino acids. Enzymes that contain biotin help get this process started.
Biotin also helps the fatty acid synthesis process. During this process, biotin helps enzymes to activate reactions to ensure your body produces fatty acids. Remember, fatty acids help your body produce energy.
Your body also needs biotin to break down amino acids.
Without biotin, your body might lack the energy it needs to function properly.
3. Nail Growth
Without vitamins, your nails might become fragile. As a result, they could become more prone to splitting or cracking. If your body isn’t getting enough biotin, your nails could become brittle.
Taking a biotin vitamin could help improve the strength of your nails. You can also improve your nail health by changing your diet.
4. Diabetes Support
Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic condition. People with diabetes usually have impaired insulin function. Their blood sugar levels are often higher than normal as well.
Remember, biotin helps your body regulate glucose. If you don’t have enough biotin, a deficiency could disrupt this process. Biotin levels are sometimes lower in diabetes patients as a result.
Some studies indicate that taking a biotin and chromium picolinate supplement could prevent insulin resistance. However, we only have animal studies to work from so far.
So far, results in human studies are mixed regarding how biotin supplements can affect a diabetes patient’s blood sugar levels. Some studies have indicated that biotin and chromium picolinate could help treat type 2 diabetes. More high-quality research is needed to determine how biotin can impact blood sugar control.
5. Skin Health
Some patients with a biotin deficiency experience skin problems. These issues can include scaly rashes and red skin.
Biotin might help improve psoriasis symptoms and other skin conditions. However, no evidence confirms that biotin can improve skin health for people who don’t have a deficiency.
It’s possible biotin’s effect on fat metabolism could benefit skin health. Fat metabolism is essential for maintaining healthy skin. Low biotin levels could impact your body’s ability to complete the fat metabolism process, which could affect your skin health.
6. Pregnancy Support
Remember, biotin is also important for nursing mothers. It’s important for pregnancy, too. In fact, it’s common for women to experience a slight biotin deficiency while pregnant.
Almost 50% of pregnant women in the US have mild biotin vitamin deficiency. While this deficiency might not cause recognizable symptoms, it can still have an effect on the mother’s overall health.
When a woman is pregnant, their body will break down the biotin vitamin faster than normal. This process could cause their bodies to require more biotin each day.
Women who are pregnant can increase their biotin intake through supplements or by improving their diet. However, it’s important to consult a doctor before taking supplements. If you’re pregnant or currently breastfeeding, make sure to speak with your doctor about your daily biotin intake.
7. Multiple Sclerosis Treatment
Multiple sclerosis is a type of autoimmune disease. Over time, this condition can damage the covering that protects nerve fibers through your eyes, spinal cord, and brain. This protective covering is called myelin.
In order to produce myelin to protect your spinal cord, eyes, and brain, your body needs biotin.
Patients with multiple sclerosis have benefited from a daily dose of biotin. It’s possible taking biotin could reverse the progression of multiple sclerosis. It could reduce chronic disability as well.
However, more research is necessary to determine biotin’s full range of effects on multiple sclerosis and myelin development.
Adding Biotin to Your Diet
Most people get their daily recommended allowance of biotin through their diet. In addition to taking a biotin vitamin, you might also consider trying biotin-rich foods. For example, you can try eating:
- Egg yolk
- Cauliflower
- Bananas
- Nuts (peanuts, walnuts, almonds)
- Organ meats (liver and kidney)
- Whole grains
- Soybeans and other legumes
- Mushrooms
It’s important to note that heat can impact a biotin’s efficiency. When eating these foods to increase your biotin intake, consider eating them raw. You might want to try making minimally-processed dishes, too.
The amount of biotin you’ll receive from each food can vary. It also helps to read each product’s nutritional information. That way, you can determine which food items will help increase your biotin vitamin intake the most.
Does Biotin Make Your Hair Grow Fast?: Everything You Need to Know to Grow
To recap, does biotin make your hair grow fast? The results are mixed. If you’re deficient in biotin, however, your hair might begin to fall out.
By getting your daily dose of the biotin vitamin, you can improve your hair quality and keep your hair from shedding.
Looking for more helpful health guides? Explore the Health section of the blog today!