What is Vitamin H (Biotin) And What Does Vitamin H Do?

Your first question is, “What is Vitamin H?” Believe it or not, you probably have heard of Vitamin H in its other names, Vitamin B7 or more commonly Biotin. 

Part of the question, “What is Vitamin H?” is what exactly does Vitamin H do? 

Since it is part of the Vitamin B complex group, you could say it does a lot. 

Interestingly enough, the lack of Vitamin H can lead to most visibly, the thinning of hair and eventually complete loss of hair. 

Changing levels of Vitamin H can also lead to changing in hair color, namely shifting from grey to natural hair color.

What is Vitamin H And What Does Vitamin H Do?

Vitamin H is used mostly in cell growth. 

It aids the production of fatty acids. Fatty acids help nourish the brain. Vitamin H also helps metabolize fats and proteins such as amino acids. 

Amino acids can be toxic to brain cells. Vitamin H is also a part of process of the body gaining energy from food. 

Vitamin H is necessary for healthy bone marrow, healing muscle pain, healthy hair, skin and sweat glands and most of all nerve tissue in and out of the brain. 

Vitamin H also assists with the transfer of carbon dioxide as well as helping the body keep a healthy blood sugar level.

If the benefits weren’t enough to persuade you to have more Vitamin H in your life, the lack of Vitamin H has some detriment to your health. 

You can experience tongue inflammation, dry and scaly skin, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, general fatigue. 

As it effects the brain, you may experience symptoms of depression. A lack of Vitamin H can also lead to problems with high cholesterol. 

Take heart though, Vitamin H is very hard to become deficient in, since the body naturally produces it and it can be found in most foods. 

In fact, the body will more often need to release excess Vitamin H in waste.

Adults should have an intake of about 300 micrograms (0.3mg) of Vitamin H a day. This is the minimum dosage to ensure you can avoid deficiency. 

If you were to take a therapeutic amount of Vitamin H you would take at least twice as much per day. 

There is little worry about the toxicity levels of Vitamin H since the body typically excretes any extra amounts of the nutrient.

There are no known side effects of too much Vitamin H, except probably having a general sense of well being.

Vitamin H combines well with other B group vitamins. You should consider particularly Vitamin B5 (also known as pantothenic acid), and Vitamin B12. 

Also consider Vitamin C and sulfur. Some doctors will suggest to alopecia patients that taking Vitamin H will help reverse the effects of the hair loss in some cases. 

There has to be the right quantities present in the body in conjunction with other vitamins for it to have the desire effect. 

If the body has an increased presence of the chemical avidin (found in raw eggs) the body will not be able to absorb the Vitamin H since avidin binds with the Vitamin H.