Hair & Nails

What this is. A vitamin and mineral blend built around biotin, taken for hair strength, nail growth and skin. A 90-day bottle rather than the usual 30.

10,000 mcg of biotin in one capsule. The Daily Value for biotin is 30 mcg, so this is roughly 333 times it. Before anything else on this page: biotin at this dose interferes with common blood tests, including the troponin test used to diagnose a heart attack. That is set out in Cautions below, and it is the most important paragraph here.

What you are actually getting, per 1 capsule

• Biotin — 10,000 mcg
• Bamboo Extract (silica content not stated) — 300 mg
• Olive Oil — 110 mg
• Choline (form not stated on the panel) — 100 mg
• Ginger — 53 mg

Nothing here is standardised, so there is no ratio arithmetic to show. What is missing: bamboo extract is in hair formulas as a silica source and the panel gives no silica percentage, so its 300 mg is a weight rather than a dose. The choline has no form named, and bitartrate, citrate and the rest differ in how much choline they actually carry. The ginger has no gingerol figure and no extract ratio. The panel prints no Daily Value percentage for the biotin either.

One piece of arithmetic worth doing, because the unit does the work here: 10,000 mcg is 10 mg. Which means the ingredient with by far the biggest number on the panel is the smallest by weight in the capsule — less than the ginger, less than the choline, less than a thirtieth of the bamboo. That is not a criticism of the dose, which is genuinely enormous against what a body needs. It is a reminder to read the unit before the number.

Worth knowing before you buy

The biotin is the formula. The other four ingredients are small: 300 mg of an unstandardised bamboo extract, 110 mg of olive oil, 100 mg of choline against an adult adequate intake of 425 to 550 mg a day, and 53 mg of ginger where ginger research generally works in grams.

What is not in here matters too. There is no collagen, no keratin, no zinc, no vitamin C, no iron and no stated silica figure. Formulas with this name often carry several of those. This one is a large biotin dose with four supporting ingredients, and if you were expecting a broad formula, this is not it.

More biotin is also not automatically better. Biotin deficiency is uncommon in people eating an ordinary diet, and biotin is water-soluble, so what your body does not use it passes. The panel makes no case for 10,000 mcg over 1,000 mcg or 300 mcg, and we are not going to make one on its behalf. The case against is the lab-test problem below, which is documented, and is the reason this page opens with it rather than buries it.

One thing genuinely in its favour: 90 capsules at one a day is three months from a single bottle. It is the only 90-count in our range and the lowest cost per serving we sell.

How to take it

One capsule a day with water. Ninety capsules, so one a day is 90 days.

Other ingredients

Gelatin. The capsule is gelatin, which is animal-derived, so this is not suitable for vegetarians or vegans. The panel does not state the animal source of the gelatin. It declares no allergens.

Cautions

High-dose biotin interferes with blood tests, and this is a high dose. The FDA has warned that biotin at supplement levels can distort the results of many common lab assays, because a great number of them are built on a biotin-based binding step. Two matter most. Thyroid panels can come back looking like an overactive thyroid when the thyroid is fine, which has led people to be investigated and treated for a condition they do not have. And troponin, the blood test used in hospital to diagnose a heart attack, can be pushed falsely low; the FDA has reported a death connected to a falsely low troponin result in a patient taking high-dose biotin. The biotin is not harming you — it is corrupting the reading, which can be worse. Tell your doctor and the lab that you take 10,000 mcg of biotin every time blood is taken, before it is taken, and ask whether to stop it beforehand. In an emergency, say it out loud even if nobody asks you.

Ginger can affect blood clotting and is documented as interacting with warfarin and antiplatelet medicines such as clopidogrel and aspirin. 53 mg is a small amount, but mention it if you take any of those or have surgery coming up. Keep out of the reach of children. Do not use if the safety seal is damaged or missing. Store in a cool, dry place. Do not exceed the recommended dose. If you are pregnant, nursing, under 18, taking prescription medication or living with a medical condition, speak to your doctor or pharmacist before starting this or any supplement.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.