One vitamin that’s a part of the B class of vitamins but is also often referred to as vitamin H is Vitamin B7, otherwise known as Biotin.
This vitamin is one that’s going to be required on a daily basis since there’s no storage form of it in the body, so any excess taken in over and above your needs will be eliminated from the body immediately.
If you fail to take in adequate vitamin B7 over the course of each day, deficiencies can start to develop, which is why a good multivitamin might be key for some people.
Let’s take a closer look at what vitamin B7 is all about so you can get the facts straight on what this nutrient will do for you.
A List of Vitamin B7 Food Sources
The best foods to include in your diet that help to increase your total daily intake of vitamin B7 are:
- Almonds
- Beef liver
- Brewers yeast
- Brown rice
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Cheese
- Chicken
- Chicken breasts
- Eggs – especially the yolk
- Leafy green vegetables
- Liver
- Mushrooms
- Most beans
- Most Fish – especially sardines
- Nuts
- Salmon
- Spinach
- Turkey
- Whole grains
How To Consume More Vitamin B7
There are plenty of different methods of incorporating more vitamin B7 into your day. First, since many protein rich foods are high in this nutrient, you want to make sure that you’re meeting your protein requirements. Aim to eat chicken or salmon with at least one of your main meals of the day.
In addition to this, swap out your typical breakfast cereal for some scrambled eggs with mushrooms and sprinkled low fat cheddar cheese on top for a great protein boost and plenty of vitamin B7.
Another fast and simple trick to get more of this nutrient in is to start snacking on a handful of almonds before your meals. This has actually been shown to be a good weight loss strategy as well as nuts dull the appetite so you’ll often consume fewer calories in your next meal by doing so.
Eat Plenty of Vegetables Every Day
Finally, making sure that you’re taking in plenty of fresh vegetables each day is important, especially cauliflower and spinach as these are both listed as top sources of this nutrient.
Remember to try different varieties of cooking techniques to make these easy to add into your day such as steaming, stir-frying, baking, or having them raw if you prefer.
However you choose to add them, vegetables are very low calorie so there’s really no excuse not to add these into your diet as often as possible. They’ll supply fiber, other nutrients and especially vitamin B7, making sure that you reap all the health rewards this vitamin has to offer.
What Role Does Vitamin B7 Perform Inside The Human Body?
Just like all the other B vitamins in the body, one key role of vitamin B7 is going to be to help convert the foods that you’re consuming into a usable form of energy by the body. This means taking incoming carbohydrates and processing them to form glucose, which is quickly broken down by the working cells.
Vitamin B7 is also going to be useful in the breakdown of fats and proteins as well, the two other nutrients taken in through the diet, helping to provide the amino acids and fatty acids that are needed for a variety of life sustaining functions.
Vitamin B7 is a nutrient that plays an important role in the maintenance of healthy skin, hair, eyes, and the liver, and many people who are suffering from a vitamin B7 deficiency will experience hair loss as a result of this.
This doesn’t mean supplementing with high amounts of vitamin B7 can prevent baldness from taking place, but making sure you’re getting enough regularly can help to reduce the speed at which it occurs.
Vitamin B7 is also going to play a role in proper blood sugar maintenance, so will be partially responsible for helping you stay feeling well after any carbohydrate rich foods are consumed.
Those who have poor blood sugar control often find that they experience wide fluctuations throughout the day, having extreme blood sugar highs and then lows following an intake of a carbohydrate rich meal.
This can lead to major issues with body weight since the blood sugar low often prompts those individuals to consume more simple carbs to bring the blood sugar up to a safer range.
Long-term, vitamin B7 could help promote greater weight maintenance for this reason.
Parts of the Body Affected By Vitamin B7
- Cell growth
- Skin
- Hair
- Muscles
- Metabolism
The Health Benefits of Vitamin B7
Vitamin B7 is very often added to many different cosmetic products for its important role in maintaining good hair and skin health, so making sure you get enough in your daily diet may provide these benefits without having to rely on added products.
In addition to this, vitamin B7 can also help to reduce any muscle pain that’s experienced and will help to promote strong bone marrow so can help to reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
Vitamin B7 Recommended Daily Amount
The recommended daily dosage for vitamin b7 has been set at:
- 0-6 months: 5 mcg
- 7-12 months: 6 mcg
- 1-3 years: 8 mcg
- 4-8 years: 12 mcg
- 9-13 years: 20 mcg
- 14-18 years: 25 mcg
- 19 years and older: 30 mcg
- Pregnant females: 30 mcg
- Breastfeeding females: 35 mcg
Vitamin B7 Deficiency Symptoms
Running a deficiency of vitamin B7 is quite rare as most people do easily consume enough of this nutrient in their daily diets, but those who do suffer from a deficiency will notice higher levels of fatigue, a decrease in appetite level, feelings of nausea, vomiting, and they may also note that they have a higher rate of feelings of depression.
Finally, in longer term deficiency, inflammation can start to take place in the body and cholesterol levels may start to increase.
So there you have the facts about vitamin B7, otherwise referred to as Biotin. It’s one nutrient that anyone who wants to look their best should definitely be concerned with as it plays such a key role in helping improve the complexion of your skin and keep your hair and nails healthy.
Biotin. This is the only ingredient on the web that has no food content. Each and every other food has a Nutrition Data and Vitamin and Mineral amount.
Vitamin B7 is found in a number of natural foods. Good food sources include most organ meats, eggs, soybeans and yeast. The best foods which are rich in biotin are eggs, containing between 13 and 25 micrograms of the nutrient, the yolk of the egg is what contains the majority of this vitamin. Also consider chicken liver which contains high amounts of vitamin B-7 between 150 to 200 mcg.
Foods with moderate amounts of vitamin B-7 include fish, nuts and oatmeal. As for vegetarians there are several vegetables which are great sources of biotin. Broccoli and cabbage are considered a great source of biotin. Also most leafy green vegetables in general seem to hold high amounts of biotin. Consider mushrooms, sweet potatoes, carrots and cauliflower all of these contain good amounts of this vitamin. As for fruits try and include some of the following: eat plenty of bananas, avocados and raspberries. I hope this helps! 😉
I have had a condition (candidiasis) or called candida albicans. I have read in several books that biotin may be helpful for this? I am going to add a lot of the foods mentioned in this article to see if it has any affect on my condition. Thanks for the post!