Biotin is an essential ingredient in all hair products because of its hair benefits. It promotes healthy hair growth, prevents scalp diseases, hair thinning and hair loss, and has many other benefits like regulation of blood sugar and hormone production.
Biotin deficiency is rare but very dangerous especially in pregnant women as it may lead to birth defects.
Brittle nails, hair loss, myopathy, nausea, headache, fatigue, insomnia, difficulty sleeping, loss of appetite, anemia, and dry skin and eyes are all symptoms of biotin deficiency.
There are many biotin foods that can be added to our daily diet to provide us with the recommended daily dose of biotin without the need of any supplements.
So what are the forms of natural Biotin?
Biotin is found in two forms; free biotin and protein-bound biotin.
The main source of free biotin is plants while the main sources of protein-bound biotin are bacteria and animal cells.
Which form of Biotin is better?
When we use protein-bound biotin, an amount of energy is needed in order to break the bond between protein and biotin to transform biotin into the form that can be absorbed and utilized by our bodies.
Free biotin can be absorbed and utilized directly by our bodies without any additional steps; that is why the plant sources of biotin are better than the animal sources.
The plant-based biotin has a high bioavailability yet the sources of protein-bound biotin have higher concentrations of biotin especially organ meat sources like liver and kidney.
Taking biotin from natural sources is better than taking biotin supplements as some people have problems with absorption of biotin supplements.
You can check everything about biotin absorption from this scientific article.
Everything you need to know about liver, eggs, cheese, salmon, nuts, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, cauliflower, avocado, and bread as sources of biotin can be found from here. And here are some other sources of natural biotin:
1. Pork Chop
Adding 3 ounces of sliced pork chops to your salad will provide you with about 3.8 micrograms of biotin, zinc and many essential proteins. Pork chops will help your body to build its muscles and proteins, supports the organ structure and maintains the body’s tissues.
Zinc enhances the immune system.
2. Spinach
Spinach is considered one of the healthiest vegetables that you should include in your diet. Spinach level of biotin is so high.
You can freeze spinach and it will remain healthy but fresh spinach is better.
About 7 micrograms of biotin are included in a serving of chopped leaf spinach.
3. Yeast
Yeast is a good source of biotin whether it is brewer’s yeast or nutritional yeast yet the amount of biotin varies widely between both types of yeast.
Nutritional yeast is used as a flavor to foods while brewer’s yeast is used to make bread and beer.
You will be provided with about 1.4 to 14 micrograms of biotin by having about 7 grams of yeast.
4. Almonds
Almonds are rich in many important nutrients like magnesium and vitamin E, fibers and of course biotin. Add almonds to your breakfast. ¼ cup of almonds will provide you with about 1.5 micrograms of biotin.
5. Broccoli
Adding broccoli to your diet is a very good idea especially if you have it with yogurt for breakfast. You can also eat it raw or by adding it to your salad for lunch or dinner.
Broccoli is full of nutrients; it is considered a superfood. It includes vitamin K, vitamin C and of course biotin. It helps in promotion of the health of the bone and it is effective also against cancer.
Having ½ cup of fresh broccoli will provide you with 0.4 micrograms of biotin.
6. Milk
Having one cup of milk everyday will provide you with 0.3 micrograms of biotin. Of course the benefits of milk are great; it has calcium that helps in building bones and teeth, protein that repairs muscles and potassium that keeps the heart healthy and regulates the blood pressure.
7. Oatmeal
The healthiest breakfast you could have every day is oatmeal. It is proved to be effective against cancer, diabetes mellitus, obesity, heart diseases and some kinds of cancer. You can add it to your fruits and nuts or having it for breakfast.
8. Banana
Eat a banana every day and your heart will remain healthy for a very long time; that is a popular medical piece of advice. Bananas have high amount of potassium, fibers and they help in losing weight and providing the body with energy. One banana will provide you with 0.2 micrograms of biotin.
Check more foods and information about biotin from here.