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Top 5 Common Food Sources of Biotin
Looking to get more mcg of biotin in your diet? Look no further! My team and I have crunched the numbers and did all the math to determine the top 5 common food sources of this essential nutrient, per serving. Getting enough biotin as part of a healthy balanced diet is important since a large collection of studies show that getting nutrients from dietary supplements or multivitamins doesn’t improve health outcomes compared to getting nutrients from foods!
| Rank | Food | Nutrivore Score | Serving Size (Raw) | Vitamin B7 (µg/serving) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liver, Average1 | 4192 | 3.5 oz / 100 g | 156.5 | 522 |
| 2 | Kidney, Average2 | 2558 | 3.5 oz / 100 g | 89.7 | 299 |
| 3 | Giblets, Average3 | 1319 | 3.5 oz / 100 g | 51.1 | 170 |
| 4 | Flatfish (Flounder and Sole) | 749 | 4 oz / 115 g | 51.1 | 170 |
| 5 | Oysters, Average4 | 2759 | 4 oz / 115 g | 47.2 | 157 |
2Kidney, average includes beef, lamb, and pork kidney.
3Giblets, average includes chicken and turkey giblets.
4Oysters, average includes Eastern (farmed and wild) and Pacific oysters.
Want to know more about this important vitamin including what biotin does in the body, how much biotin intake we need, what happens if we have low biotin levels or if we get too much, and even more biotin rich foods? Keep reading to learn all there is to know!
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What Is Biotin and What Does It Do?
Biotin (vitamin B7), initially known as vitamin H, is a water-soluble vitamin found in nature bound to proteins in foods. Like other B vitamins, biotin plays an important role in the Krebs cycle, various organ functions, neurotransmitter production, and cellular function. Along with serving as a coenzyme for five different carboxylase enzymes needed for energy metabolism (breaking down carbohydrates, fat, and protein for use as fuel), biotin plays a role in the regulation of chromatin structure (the way DNA is condensed and organized), making it a player in gene expression.
Biotin has a number of aesthetic benefits, including improving nail strength, improving hair growth in people with low baseline biotin levels, and reversing thinning hair due to medication. Getting enough of this nutrient helps protect against some pregnancy-related issues (including premature delivery and birth defects), may improve functional abilities in people with multiple sclerosis, and has potential anti-diabetic effects. However, high-dose supplementation can cause falsely normal or abnormal results for some important lab tests—including thyroid-stimulating hormone, the pregnancy hormone, and vitamin D!
Learn more about biotin here.
Biotin Deficiency
Even though we can’t make our own biotin, true biotin deficiency is rare, especially since our gut microbiota can synthesize large amounts of biotin in addition to the biotin we obtain from our diets.
Groups At Risk
Those at higher risk of biotin deficiency include:
- individuals consuming raw egg whites over a long period of time (due to the heat sensitive protein avidin inhibiting biotin absorption).
- people with biotinidase deficiency (a rare hereditary disorder impairing biotin absorption and recycling),
- smokers,
- individuals with certain liver diseases, and
- those chronically consuming alcohol.
Learn more here.
Symptoms of Deficiency
Biotin deficiency, when it occurs, can cause a range of symptoms including hair loss (alopecia), ataxia, brittle nails, scaly red skin rash, conjunctivitis, seborrheic dermatitis, unusual facial fat distribution, and neurological issues such as depression, lethargy, hallucinations, numbness, tingling, and seizures. It can also lead to ketolactic acidosis and ataxia. During pregnancy, even mild biotin insufficiency without obvious symptoms in pregnant women, may increase the risk of cleft palate, limb hypoplasia, and skeletal abnormalities in the baby.
Learn more here.
Problems From Too Much Biotin
High-dose biotin supplementation (5 mg per day or more) can interfere with laboratory tests that use biotin-streptavidin technology, potentially causing falsely abnormal or normal results in tests for hormones like thyroid-stimulating hormone, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, pregnancy hormone (hCG), and some tumor markers. This has led to reports of misdiagnoses by healthcare professionals, prompting the FDA to issue a safety alert. It’s recommended to stop biotin supplements at least 48 hours before testing. While doses up to 10 mg per day are generally safe without reported side effects, extremely high doses can occasionally cause excessive thirst, difficulty sleeping, and stomach discomfort. As a water-soluble vitamin, biotin does not accumulate in the body, as excess is excreted through urine.
Learn more here.
How Much Biotin Do We Need?
The following table summarizes the current recommended adequate intake for biotin (in micrograms), based on age, gender, or situation. Note that biotin requirements are higher when breastfeeding.
It’s also important to note that biotin has some known interactions with other nutrients including vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid). Learn more here.
| 0 – 6 months | |||||
| 6 months to < 12 months | |||||
| 1 yr – 3 yrs | |||||
| 4 yrs – 8 yrs | |||||
| 9 yrs – 13 yrs | |||||
| 14 yrs – 18 yrs | |||||
| 19 yrs – 50 yrs | |||||
| 51+ yrs | |||||
| Pregnant (14 – 18 yrs) | |||||
| Pregnant (19 – 30 yrs) | |||||
| Pregnant (31 – 50 yrs) | |||||
| Lactating (14 – 18 yrs) | |||||
| Lactating (19 – 30 yrs) | |||||
| Lactating (31 – 50 yrs) |
Nutrient Daily Values
Nutrition requirements and recommended nutrient intake for infants, children, adolescents, adults, mature adults, and pregnant and lactating individuals.
More Food Sources of Biotin
The best food sources of biotin include egg yolks, liver, and yeast. Biotin is also present in nuts like almonds and walnuts, as well as in avocados, root vegetables like sweet potatoes, legumes, and tomatoes.
Best Food Sources of Biotin
The following foods have high biotin content, containing at least 50% of the recommended dietary allowance per serving, making them our best food sources of this B-complex vitamin!
Good Food Sources of Biotin
The following foods are excellent or good sources of biotin, containing at least 10% (and up to 50%) of the daily value of this micronutrient per serving.
Top 5 Common Food Sources
If you’re looking for top 5 common food sources of other important nutrients check out these posts!
cITATIONS
Expand to see all scientific references for this article.
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Foods High in Vitamin B3 (Niacin)
