Why are B vitamins usually low in Biotin?

[vtoodler]

Most B vitamins have very little Biotin (usually no more than 300mcg).

Why is that?

 

[KSand]

I don't think that means they are low in biotin, the 300 mcg is the recommended daily dosage. Taking 1g or 5g means your taking 10X+ the recommended amount. Your body can only process so much and the rest leaves through urine.

I take 5mg of biotin and a B50 Complex daily.

 

[vtoodler]

They seem low relative to the other B vitamins.

The other B vitamins in a B complex are usually 1000% or 2000% of the daily recommended intake. However, biotin is usually no more than 100% of the DRI. The Biotin content seems low in a relative sense.

 

[KSand]

OK. I see what you mean now. I found this:

"Some of the components of a vitamin B complex are expensive to have in the supplement. Some are very inexpensive. Biotin is extremely costly and timely to produce; therefore many B-complex products contain none or very little biotin"

That may have something to do with it....

 

[vtoodler]

That's good stuff, Kstand.

How did you find that?

 

[KSand]

Check the link. I just googled it, there were more sites but I just chose the first one.

 

[vtoodler]

I just found a B complex that is high in Biotin: http://store.ourhealthcoop.com/PhotoGallery.asp?ProductCode=B100&PhotoNumber=3

I thought that I should share it with you ladies.

 

[Jewell]

Since when did biotin become "very costly to produce?" I used to snag a bottle of 1 mg (1,000 mcg) tabs of pure biotin from Walmart for $6.57 (100 tabs/bottle). Now that was about 5 years ago, but idk about it being that expensive. Biotin is usually found in multivitamins, HSN vits, or other more expensive Bcomplex supps like others mentioned, but even I noticed that the better, more costly brands STILL don't include huge amounts of biotin.

Even if one is consuming 1,000 mcg (or 1 mg) + of biotin a day, it won't do any better than getting the RDI because it is water soluble, and once the body gets all it needs, the rest is excreted by the kidneys in urine. Taking 833% of the RDI, for example, is not going to make a big difference as the body doesn't need that much.

 

[leiah]

I only take prenatals and i've noticed that only the more expensive brands have biotin

 

[vtoodler]

I only take prenatals and i've noticed that only the more expensive brands have biotin

leiah, would you mind naming some of those brands?

 

[leiah]

leiah, would you mind naming some of those brands?

The last one I used was by the brand your life
The one before that was from a health food store. I don't remember the brand name it had a yellow label with vegetables on it
They only have like 25% of the daily value

Now i'm just taking the wal mart brand and a biotin supplement

 

[vtoodler]

Here are three more B complexes that are high in Biotin:


http://www.douglaslabs.com/product.cfm?litm=82050-100X
http://patient.designsforhealth.com/B-Supreme-B-Complex-60

http://www.agemanagementsupplements.com/vitamin_b_complex.html