Biotin Side Effects

Many people take biotin, or vitamin B7, as a supplement for hair loss but should they worry about biotin side effects if they continue to take it?

Vitamin B7, otherwise known as biotin, is one of eight essential vitamins the body needs and is part of the B-complex. All vitamins of the B-complex play an important part in the human body. These B-complex vitamins help with the metabolization of energy and act as a coenzyme in chemical reactions that produce energy. Biotin acts as a carrier of carbon dioxide in this important body process known as the TCA cycle. It is biotin’s job to keep this cycle going and is also a contributor to the synthesis of fat, metabolization of amino acids and the creation of glycogen (the short-term energy supply stored in muscles).

Biotin is a useful substance when it comes to aiding weight loss and can also have benefits to diabetics due to its ability to lower blood sugar and help to metabolize carbohydrates. Having high levels of biotin in the system has been linked to healthy, shiny hair as well as possibly being able to maintain hair color and prevent hair loss.

As mentioned before, biotin is a B-vitamin and it is a naturally occurring vitamin within the human body. Biotin is actually produced by positive bacteria found within the small intestine. Besides being within our own bodies it is also found in a wide variety of foods including some meats, legumes and even brewer’s yeast.

Biotin, like any other nutritional supplement, has its perks and benefits to your system, but too much of a good thing can turn to something bad over a period of time. There have been no discernable biotin side effects when the B-complex vitamin has been used in the correct dose. There is always a possibility that side effect may occur in rare circumstances from normal use.

Biotin may not have any known side effects through normal use, but that does not mean that an excess use of the vitamin does not have its drawbacks. Even with using too much of the vitamin, there aren’t many side effects reported. Even in cases where extremely high doses were given (either by mouth or IV) there aren’t many instances of side effects.

These few instances have arisen over the years:

• One documented case involved a very high dose of vitamin B7 (biotin) along with vitamin B5 that caused a life-threatening condition called eosinophilic pleuropericardial effusion. The condition promptly subsided once the treatment with vVitamin B7 and vitamin B5 was stopped. There is a possibility that the combination of the two vitamins in high doses caused the condition, but it could have also been something completely unrelated.

• In animal studies, pregnant rats were given high doses of biotin. The test results showed that the placenta of the fetal rats decreased in size which increased the possibility of miscarriage. It is not known why or how this occurred and is unknown if the same problem could happen in human mothers.

With any type of nutritional supplements, or any other medicine for that matter, if you are experiencing any side effects you should let your healthcare provider know immediately. The signs may be easily recognizable and could be a combination of several factors, but if something simply does not feel right don’t take a chance. It may not be a side effect of biotin specifically, but your doctor should be able to correctly diagnose the problem and then take the needed steps to correct and treat it.

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