Biotin, also known as vitamin B7, is an essential nutrient and part of your B-complex. While often associated with beauty benefits like stronger hair, skin, and nails, biotin benefits for women also include energy-yielding metabolism, cognitive function, and nervous system support.1 For women navigating stress, hormonal shifts, or nutrient depletion, ensuring adequate biotin intake is a small but powerful wellness step.
Here’s what the science really says about this important micronutrient.
Should Women Take Biotin Supplements Daily?
Biotin is present in many foods such as eggs, nuts, seeds, fish, meat, spinach, avocados and sweet potatoes. But there’s a catch: because biotin is water-soluble, it’s easily destroyed during cooking or food processing. The body also can’t store biotin, meaning we need a consistent intake from diet or supplements to maintain healthy levels.
While a balanced diet is ideal, modern life rarely allows for perfect nutrition. Factors like stress, digestive issues, pregnancy, medication use (e.g. antibiotics or anti-seizure drugs), and even excessive alcohol intake can reduce biotin absorption or increase your requirements.
Biotin for Hair, Skin and Nails
Let’s start with the headline benefit: beauty support. Deficiencies in biotin, although rare, are strongly associated with hair thinning, brittle nails, and dry, scaly skin.2 At the 250 mcg dose found in SISTERLY, biotin provides support for the body’s natural production of keratin, an essential protein that gives structure and strength to hair, skin, and nails.
Biotin for Energy Metabolism
Biotin acts as a support for several enzymes that convert carbohydrates, natural fats (from avocados, nuts, seeds) and proteins into usable energy. This makes biotin particularly beneficial for women who feel consistently fatigued despite adequate sleep or nutrition. By supporting mitochondrial function and glucose regulation, biotin helps keep energy levels more stable and reduces the risk of nutrient-related metabolic sluggishness.
Biotin for Brain Function and the Nervous System
Biotin supports a healthy nervous system, including your brain. It helps enzymes in the mitochondria produce energy in the form of ATP, something neurons need a lot of to send signals, reset themselves, and recycle neurotransmitters. Without enough cellular energy (ATP), these processes slow down, which can affect brain function and mood regulation.
Biotin helps activate enzymes involved in fatty acid synthesis—key for maintaining myelin, the protective sheath around your neurons. Healthy myelin allows nerve signals to travel quickly and efficiently, supporting smooth communication between brain cells. This function is so important that high-dose biotin is being studied for its potential to support nerve conduction in conditions like multiple sclerosis, where high-dose biotin is being trialled to restore nerve conduction.3
Biotin for Mood and Mental Wellbeing
When energy levels are low and the nervous system is under stress, common during hormonal shifts or burnout, biotin works diligently in the background, ensuring brain cells get the energy and structural support they need.
Biotin and Cellular Health
Why is biotin in prenatal vitamins? Simply put, biotin demands increase during pregnancy due to faster rates of cell division and metabolism. According to NIH data, marginal biotin deficiency is surprisingly common in pregnant women and may contribute to birth defects if uncorrected.4
Even outside of pregnancy, biotin supports healthy DNA synthesis and repair, helping cells grow and renew properly. This is especially important for skin health, immune resilience, and gut lining integrity.
How Much Biotin is Safe?
SISTERLY includes 250 mcg of biotin, a safe and effective dose that supports multiple health systems.
Some biotin supplements on the market with doses as high as 5,000–10,000 mcg (5–10 mg), are often promoted for rapid hair growth. While ingesting biotin is safe, even at high doses, high levels of biotin in the blood can impact certain medical lab tests.5 This has been flagged as potentially causing problems with blood test results, particularly hormone, thyroid, and cardiac tests that use biotin-streptavidin technology.6
In 2019, the FDA warned about interference with lab test results caused by high levels of biotin in patients’ blood.7,8,9, The risk becomes more pronounced at 5,000mcg and above.10 These biotin doses are considered to be “high-dose” whereas SISTERLY falls within the “low dose” category and well below the 1000 mg level threshold that the FDA has highlighted as a possible issue for interfering with test results.9
For more information regarding this issue see our Biotin Fact Sheet which has been approved by Dr. Mandy Leonhardt, Dr. Daniel Jones, Clinical Dietician Reshma Patel and Food Scientist Susie Perry.
Because biotin is typically excreted via urine when taken in excess, your body simply uses what it needs and discards the rest. This makes it a gentle yet effective nutrient tool in your SISTERLY sachet, particularly when stress, perimenopause, or nutrient-depleting lifestyles are in play.
The Takeaway: Why SISTERLY Includes 250 mcg
Biotin might be small in size, but its role in female health is anything but minor. At SISTERLY, we’ve chosen a science-backed, moderate-dose of biotin that works in synergy with the other B-vitamins. 250 mcg is enough to support healthy metabolism, beauty pathways, and cognitive wellbeing, without the downsides associated with megadosing.
References
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Bistas, E., & Tadi, P. (2023). Biotin (Vitamin B7). In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
books/NBK470579/ -
Famenini, S., & Goh, C. (2017). Evidence-based use of biotin for hair loss. Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology, 10(7), 52–57. https://jcadonline.com/biotin-
for-hair-loss-evidence/ -
Tourbah, A., Lebrun-Frenay, C., Edan, G., Clanet, M., Papeix, C., Vukusic, S., De Sèze, J., Debouverie, M., Gout, O., Clavelou, P., Defer, G., Laplaud, D.-A., Moreau, T., Labauge, P., Brochet, B., Sedel, F., Pelletier, J.; MS‑SPI Study Group. (2016). MD1003 (high‑dose biotin) for the treatment of progressive multiple sclerosis: A randomized, double‑blind, placebo‑controlled study. Multiple Sclerosis Journal, 22(13), 1719–1731. https://doi.org/10.1177/
1352458516667568 -
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Dietary Supplements. (2023). Biotin Fact Sheet for Health Professionals. https://ods.od.nih.gov/
factsheets/Biotin- HealthProfessional/ -
Piketty ML, Prie D, Sedel F, Bernard D, Hercend C, Chanson P, Souberbielle JC. High-dose biotin therapy leading to false biochemical endocrine profiles: validation of a simple method to overcome biotin interference. Clin Chem Lab Med. 2017 May 1;55(6):817-825. doi: 10.1515/cclm-2016-1183. PMID: 28222020.https://pubmed.ncbi.
nlm.nih.gov/28222020/ -
Bolignano, D., & Criseo, M. (2019). When vitamin supplementation leads to harm: The growing popularity of biotin and its impact on laboratory tests. BC Medical Journal, 61(1), 25–28. https://bcmj.org/articles/
when-vitamin-supplementation- leads-harm-growing-popularity- biotin-and-its-impact- laboratory -
Gifford JL, Sadrzadeh SMH, Naugler C. Biotin interference: Underrecognized patient safety risk in laboratory testing. Can Fam Physician. 2018 May;64(5):370. PMID: 29760259; PMCID: PMC5951654. Biotin interference: Underrecognized patient safety risk in laboratory testing - PMC.
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Danni Li, Angela Ferguson, Mark A Cervinski, Kara L Lynch, Patrick B Kyle, AACC Guidance Document on Biotin Interference in Laboratory Tests, The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine, Volume 5, Issue 3, May 2020, Pages 575–587, https://doi.org/10.1093/jalm/
jfz010 -
FDA. (2019). Update: The FDA warns that biotin may interfere with lab tests. U.S. Food & Drug Administration. https://wayback.archive-it.
org/7993/20201220000025/https: //www.fda.gov/medical-devices/ safety-communications/update- fda-warns-biotin-may- interfere-lab-tests-fda- safety-communication -
Angelopoulos N, Paparodis RD, Androulakis I, Anagnostis P, Boniakos A, Duntas L, Karras SN, Livadas S. The clinical significance of low dose biotin supplements (<300μg/day) in the treatment of patients with hypothyroidism: crucial or overestimated? Thyroid Res. 2023 Jul 17;16(1):18. doi: 10.1186/s13044-023-00162-8. PMID: 37455308; PMCID: PMC10351174
