Biotin is a water-soluble B vitamin. Many shampoos and conditioners that promise thicker, fuller hair often contain this B vitamin.
Biotin has many benefits for your body.
Its primary role is to help turn the food you eat into energy. Your body also needs it to produce keratin — the type of protein that makes up hair, skin, and nails.
Many foods contain biotin, meaning that deficiency is rare in healthy people who eat a balanced diet.
Although rare, biotin deficiency can cause skin rashes, brittle nails, as well as hair thinning and loss. This owes to the vitamin’s role in keratin production.
As such, biotin supplements and biotin-added hair products are commonly advertised to support healthy hair growth or promote thicker, voluminous hair.
Biotin rich foods include: Egg yolk, Oats, wheat germ, white mushrooms, spinach, etc.
Other possible benefits of biotin include the treatment of:
· Brittle fingernails or toenails
· Diabetes
· Diabetic nerve pain
· Multiple sclerosis
Note, however, that there is insufficient scientific evidence confirming if biotin can treat any of these conditions.