Vitamin B7 (Biotin)

Vitamin B7

Biotin is an important vitamin that, since its discovery in yeast with other B vitamins, has been classed with the B-complex vitamins. Although it is formally referred to as vitamin B7, it is more commonly referred to as biotin.

It was discovered to be a significant component of nails, skin, and hair at first. Since a pilot research in women with brittle nails found supplementation to be effective, biotin has been the go-to vitamin for beauty. It’s presently being promoted as a way to improve the appearance of your nails, skin, and hair. However, because these assertions were not followed up on scientifically, there isn’t much data to back up biotin’s participation in this case. It is possible that it performs these tasks mechanistically, but there isn’t much data to back it up.

Aside from cases when biotin deficiency may occur (alcoholism, certain epileptic medication treatments, and excessive eating of raw egg whites), the supplement lacks substantial proof for its advantages and may have a role as a beauty supplement pending more research.

How to Take

The only known oral biotin supplement dose that has been studied in people for improving the condition of brittle nails is 2.5mg taken once day for six months.

Although this amount appears to be quite safe, it is significantly greater than the recommended daily intake (RDI) of biotin, which varies from 25-30 micrograms (children) to 100 micrograms (adults) (adults). The biotin amount in many multivitamins (30mcg or 0.03mg) appears to be more than enough.