Hair loss is a normal occurrence for people, but what freaks many people out is when it becomes excessive. Several internal and external factors cause it. While the focus is usually given to the external factors, sometimes the solution might be an unpopular internal factor like nutrition; that’s why many are advised to improve their diet because it has a significant impact on hair health.
When you get to the point you’re required to correct hair loss with nutrients derived from food, any nutrient in the vitamin class can work. However, none of them works as well as biotin, also known as vitamin H. Using biotin implies taking a more natural approach to solving every issue, pointing at hair loss.
This article will discuss what biotin is, how it works in our body, its deficiency symptoms in hair, and how it’ll help correct and prevent hair loss. So keep reading to find out.
Biotin
Biotin is one of the many nutrients that dissolve into water before the body absorbs it for immediate usage. This is why it’s regarded as a water-soluble vitamin. It executes so many tasks in the body, one of which is preventing hair loss by supplying the necessary hair nutrients to continue its growth cycle.
Many people even take biotin to reap additional health benefits apart from preventing hair loss. Some of these benefits include promoting healthy skin, regulating blood sugar, and assisting fetal development in pregnant women. This shows how vast biotin is and why it’s one of the most popular nutrients.
A shortage of biotin is rare, but it’s not impossible for the reserve in the body to be below average. And if that happens, the body, especially the hair, may not enjoy some of its benefits. This is because vital organs will receive their input before auxiliary parts like hair receive residues. That’s why it’s essential to increase its intake to have enough the body will use for sustenance and development.
Research Submissions on the Efficacy of Biotin for Hair Loss
According to one of the few available reports on the efficacy of biotin for hair loss, there isn’t enough evidence to assert that it’s effective. However, there are traces of improvement in people’s hair who have a biotin deficiency. This means, amongst those with a healthy amount of biotin in their system, it’s difficult to ascertain the impact of biotin on their hair health.
To resolve this based on the simple deduction, the presence of biotin in the body could be why people who have it aren’t fighting hair loss. So even if research hasn’t justified it, we can’t ignore the adverse results if it’s not present. With research still ongoing to perfectly establish the effects of biotin on the hair, many people have added it to their diets. Likewise, many hair care product manufacturers have added it to the ingredients for their products.
How Biotin Work in the Body
The primary objective of biotin in the body is to breakdown nutrients to create energy. With carboxylases, biotin breaks down protein, fats, and carbohydrates before turning them into fuel every tissue absorbs for usage. Besides, biotin also helps decrease inflammatory responses that could hurt the body.
As far as the hair is concerned, biotin supplies hair growth cells the fuel/energy to carry out their tasks. Some of these tasks may include the supply of keratin and melanin, giving every hair unique features like length and color. Therefore, hair health depends on the availability of enough biotin in the body. In addition, it makes the hair strong, provides sebum for a smooth scalp, and protects the strands from breakage.
Sources of Biotin
Most nutrients are derived from food, and the same applies to biotin. Food is its main source, but it is also derived from supplements and pills. People are often advised not to take supplements or pills except prescribed by a doctor or the food source that isn’t bearing fruits.
Some of the food sources include the following:
Egg Yolks
The benefit of adding eggs to your diet is wholesome. The egg provides vitamins, protein, phosphorus, and iron, and the yolk has an abundant biotin concentration. Once it’s well cooked, all risks of salmonella poisoning are eliminated, and biotin absorption is prioritized.
Legumes
Legumes are another rich source of biotin, and they can be derived from beans, lentils, peas, etc. You can combine legumes with several other foods without losing their pristine biotin content.
Liver
Organ meats like liver are another food source with a decent concentration of biotin. This derivation is valid because most of our body’s biotin reserves are found in the liver. So whether boiled or fried, you’ll get enough micrograms of biotin from it.
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are rich in fibers, minerals, vitamins, carotenoid antioxidants that help the body, and biotin, which helps the hair. One hundred twenty-five grams of sweet potatoes contains about 2.4 micrograms of biotin.
Some other food sources include:
- Nuts and seeds
- Mushrooms
- Bananas
- Avocado
- Yeast
- Broccoli
If you want to prevent hair loss and enhance the overall health of your hair, it’s essential to add some or all of these foods to your diet. If they don’t give desirable results on time, you can double it up with supplements that’ll hasten their effects on your hair.
How Soon Would Results Show?
The effect of having biotin in your diet begins as soon as it’s consumed, but its results don’t show immediately. You’ll have to give it some time, and you’ll be surprised about its effect when you eventually notice. This requires you to be intentional about consuming a healthy amount of biotin-rich food.
Conclusion
While we expect more research that confirms the relationship between biotin and hair, you can continue using it like many other people who have confirmed how much improvement they’ve discovered in their hair since they started using it. Biotin consumption remains one of the safest yet affordable ways of preventing hair loss.
Leave a Reply