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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Rather than buying high-dose biotin supplements, get biotin from food, with five named sources: egg yolks, liver, red meat, wild-caught salmon, and nuts and seeds (especially walnuts and pecans). Dr. Berry argues that biotin deficiency affects hair, skin, and nails, but there is little evidence that mega doses improve them and they mainly waste money. He also notes that biotin supports hundreds of biochemical reactions in the body.
Key Points
- The five promised food sources are: 1) egg yolks, 2) liver (chicken or beef), 3) red meat (goat, sheep, beef, lamb, or wild game), 4) wild-caught salmon, 5) nuts and seeds, especially walnuts and pecans.
- Biotin (also called vitamin B7) is a water-soluble B vitamin; deficiency can cause thinning, brittle hair and nails, and skin rashes.
- Research on how much biotin humans need is limited, and the speaker says mega-dose supplements are unlikely to make hair, skin, and nails "turbocharged."
- The speaker cites the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements recommendation of about 30 micrograms per day for adult women, which he considers probably low.
- He predicts that eating these sources several times a week will provide enough biotin without supplements, but this is his opinion rather than established evidence.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions:
- Choose egg yolks from pasture-raised chickens; avoid eating raw egg whites because avidin can block biotin.
- If eating egg whites, cook them, for example over easy so the white is cooked and the yolk stays runny; this reportedly disables about 60 to 80 percent of avidin.
- Choose liver from pasture-raised chickens or grass-fed beef. If you dislike its taste, have a butcher grind liver into ground beef.
- Choose wild-caught salmon if other sources are not eaten, acknowledging it can be expensive.
- Choose walnuts and pecans, ideally locally grown, as nut sources.
- The speaker says he discards half the egg whites and makes yolk-only omelets, which he admits runs against common practice.
- The speaker notes that the NIH figure of 30 micrograms is the same for a 280-pound adult male, which he finds illogical.
- He says there has not been enough research to know whether there is an upper limit beyond which extra biotin gives no benefit.
Bottom Line
Biotin is essential, and its deficiency can damage hair, skin, and nails, but the speaker argues that eating biotin-rich whole foods is a better and cheaper route than buying mega-dose supplements, which are unlikely to provide extra benefit.
