Your body can only function as well as you feed it, which is why it’s so important to give your system what it needs each day. Biotin (vitamin-B7) might not be a compound you consider often, but this nutrient plays a crucial role in your overall health. But what exactly is biotin?
Sometimes known as Vitamin-H, biotin is one of many B-complex vitamins, which are all the known water-soluble essential vitamins except Vitamin-C.
While B complex vitamins have wide-ranging roles within your body, they are all involved with the digestive process and help your system convert food into fuel.
Biotin itself is involved with breaking down fatty acids and amino acids for better metabolism, as well as promoting health factors like DNA stability, healthy blood sugar levels, and the promotion of skin, hair, and nail health.
Unlike many other vitamins, you can’t naturally produce biotin. And, as a water-soluble vitamin, biotin isn’t stored in your body tissues. This means that you need to take it in regularly through food to keep your levels high.
Let’s look closer at the most impressive health benefits of biotin.
1.Better Skin
Too little biotin in your body can lead to seborrheic dermatitis, a condition more commonly known as cradle cap. You might need to increase your intake if your skin and scalp have scaly, red-rashes. Adequate levels of biotin should clear-up the condition quickly and give you gorgeous, healthy skin.
2.Stronger Hair, Less Hair-Loss
While hair loss, also called alopecia, can have many triggers, your vitamin levels should not be discounted. Researchers have noticed a connection between low biotin levels and thinning, easily breakable hair. Likewise, supplementing your biotin levels can promote hair growth, especially if you take it with zinc to enhance the benefits.
3.Healthier Pregnancies/ Lower Risk of Birth Defects
Biotin deficiencies are bad news during pregnancies, and they can lead to long-term consequences for the developing baby. Research shows that too little biotin can lead to congenital disabilities, limb abnormalities, and cleft palates.
Part of the problem is that biotin breaks down faster in women’s bodies during pregnancy, so they need to take more than usual to keep their levels high. The good news? Prenatal vitamins contain high levels of folic acid, biotin and other critical compounds to keep your baby safe during pregnancy.
4.Helps with Thyroid Issues
The family of B vitamins is useful for protecting your system from gland problems, especially in regards to the thyroid. This means that experiencing symptoms such as trouble sleeping, inexplicable weight gain or loss and fatigue are all signs that your levels aren’t where they should be.
5.Improves the Immune-System
Low biotin levels can lead to a compromised immune-system, putting you at a higher risk of contracting diseases. Taking biotin, in contrast, increases your body’s production of antibodies and Th1 cytokines, which are compounds that trigger your natural immune response to fight viral or bacterial-infections.
Biotin also improves white blood cell-counts, which helps reduce the risk of both viral and bacterial-infections.
