Biotin for hair growth: is vitamin B7 an effective treatment for hair loss?
Biotin is a cheap supplement that has been marketed as a possible cure for baldness in men and women alike. Does medical research support these claims or is it just a ploy by big pharmaceutical companies to make easy money with desperate people?
With age, our bodies begin to degrade: our bones weaken, our resistance fades, and even the hair follicles weaken to the point of not being able to hold the hair anymore. Hair loss is much more likely to happen in the male population than in the female group, and we are unfortunate enough to lose hair typically in the upper part of the skull, while retaining hair around the circumference of the ears . This type of hair loss is a condition called male pattern baldness, and not only is it embarrassing for men, it also prevails. In a retrospective study that looked at the prevalence of this type of male pattern baldness, the researchers determined that in adult men between the ages of 18 to 49, 42 percent of respondents suffered from male pattern baldness. As you may suspect, this is a problem that gets worse with age:
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- Men between the ages of 18 to 29 experienced significant hair loss in only 16 percent of cases,
- while those between 30 and 49 had rates closer to 54 percent.
There are numerous treatments for hair loss on the market that can help men restore their fine lines. Some of the most common therapies in this industry would be hair transplants or medications that reduce testosterone to try to help the hair follicles regenerate, but they have side effects that might be less than desirable for patients. Another possible treatment that circulates in the medical community would be the use of biotin for hair growth.
In this article, we will explore the effects of the biotin supplement and see if it is a feasible method to help slow down this process.
What is biotin?
Biotin is an essential cofactor that our body needs to perform many chemical reactions in our body to function and live properly. We are not able to produce this ourselves, so we have to take biotin through our diet or additional supplements. Biotin is more effective as a free-flowing compound in our body, but it can be trapped by numerous proteins to make it less efficient. Studies show that people who routinely consume egg whites are at greater risk of biotin deficiency because the protein found in egg whites, Avidin, binds naturally to biotin and inactivates it. Deficiencies are rare but serious, and patients are at risk for seizures, balance problems, hair loss and mental retardation if they do not have sufficient levels of this compound.
Fortunately, biotin is a compound found in many different foods, so it should be easy for any patient to consume enough biotin in the diet to compensate for any problem with biotin deficiency. Some of the foods that were found to have the highest levels of biotin would be chicken livers, beef liver, eggs, almonds and sunflower seeds. In case you are fussy or are not ready to start eating something as exotic as beef or chicken liver, most of the foods we have in our average diet contain small amounts of biotin, and that should add up during the day .
It is currently recommended that patients ingest at least 60 micrograms of biotin per day. We should be able to meet this quota at lunchtime if we eat healthy, balanced meals.
Will it help prevent hair loss?
Now that we know something about what biotin really is, can we consider it an effective treatment for hair loss?
In an investigation, the use of biotin for hair growth was observed to see if it could be useful to restore hair follicles. In this study, ten patients were treated with biotin supplements compared to five patients in a control group who received only one placebo. Both groups were measured for six months to determine if the baldness improved with the medication.
The researchers determined that during the study:
- The hair follicle density in the control group changed from 256 follicles to 245 and 242 follicles at the control point of three and six months.
- In comparison, in the group treated with biotin, women started with almost 271 follicles and improved to 571 and 609 follicles at the end of the study.
This study showed a statistically significant difference between the two populations. However, even if the results look very promising, one of the significant limitations of this study is the fact that there were very few patients who were analyzed, so we may be drawing inaccurate conclusions without investigating a little more.
In another investigation, the researchers observed male pattern baldness, and 30 patients were analyzed this time. Even if this is still a small number, it is much better than 15 participants observed in our previous study. In this research, men received biotin to determine if there was a sufficient response with biotin. What was discovered was quite surprising. Patients who had a biotin deficiency benefited greatly when supplemented with biotin. As you will remember in the first section, one of the symptoms of biotin deficiency is baldness, so you are relieving this when you supplement with biotin. In patients who had normal levels of basal biotin, the researchers determined that there was no effect of biotin supplementation and regrowth of the hair follicles.
In a latest research that looked in depth at the benefits of using biotin in the female population, the researchers determined that there may be another underlying reason why the women in our first study found benefits from biotin in the first place. This study found that about 40 percent of women in the study population who experienced hair loss had an underlying biotin deficiency. When these women were given supplemental biotin, there was the same anticipated hair growth that we saw in the study of the male population.
However, based on our research, it seems that biotin for hair growth will work, only in certain circumstances. If you have an underlying biotin deficiency, you may benefit from the use of this supplement and you will see an increase in the amount of hair follicles in your skull. Unfortunately, we have found that biotin supplementation is not a valid treatment for hair loss for the masses because the supplements do not help those without biotin deficiency.