Vitamin B7
Biotin, a B vitamin
A B vitamin also called biotin, found in many foods. This page covers only studies in people that measured thinking, memory, mood, stress, sleep, energy, tiredness or quality of life, so it is not all research on biotin. Few studies test biotin alone. Most give it inside a B complex or multivitamin, which this page counts but doesn't list.
- Found in: many foods
- Dose stated in one study: 10 mg a day
- Length not stated in the summaries
From every paper to the studies that matter
Most research on biotin is about its role in the body, lab tests or rare inherited conditions. Only a small share tests it in people and measures thinking, mood, stress, sleep, energy or quality of life, and that is all this page covers.
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1,221 papers mention biotin.Every record in PubMed, all years
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43 are about people.The rest: 674 lab and animal studies, 65 reviews, 439 on chemistry, farming and more
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3 give biotin on its own and measure these topics.7 more give it in a B complex, multivitamin or other blend
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0 are randomised against a placebo.Randomised controlled trials In a randomised controlled trial, people are put into groups by chance, one taking the treatment and one a placebo or other comparison. Chance spreads differences such as age and health evenly, so a difference between the groups is more likely to be down to the treatment., the strongest kind of study
Bar lengths use a square-root scale so the small numbers stay visible.
How much research there is
- 3 studies giving biotin to people and measuring these topics
- 0 of them randomised against a placebo A placebo-controlled trial compares a real treatment with a dummy that looks the same, the placebo. People often feel better when they expect to, so comparing against a placebo shows how much of the change comes from the treatment itself.
- 9 people taking part, where studies say
- 6 systematic reviews A systematic review searches for every study on a question in a set, written-down way, judges the quality of each and sums up what they show together. Many include a meta-analysis. The Atlas lists these as pooled reviews. pooling the trials
Studies in people, by year published
Biotin on its own. Only studies that measured thinking, memory, mood, stress, sleep, energy, tiredness or quality of life are counted.
What the studies looked at
Each study can measure several things. Choose a topic to see its studies in the list below.
Studies in people with a diagnosed condition are counted here and listed with their population. We describe what they measured, not what they might treat. Most studies also report safety; see below.
What was tested, and how much
Biotin is a single compound, so milligrams compare directly from one study to the next. Only one of the studies listed states a daily dose, 10 mg, so this chart is thin. Two studies of people with an inherited biotin-handling condition don't give a dose in their summaries. No study here states how long people took it.
Daily amount, one dot per study
Studies per extract
Named extracts are the maker's brand. "Not named" means the study didn't say.
All studies in people
Only a few studies give biotin on its own, and none states a length. Most studies give it in a B complex or multivitamin, which this page counts but doesn't list. The listed studies are all in people with a rare inherited condition or kidney failure, so they say little about healthy adults. Filter the list, then open a study on PubMed.
| Study | Who took part | People | Extract and daily dose | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premadasa 2024Observational | Children with biotinidase deficiency | 8 | Not named | – |
| Jay 2015Observational | Children with biotinidase deficiency found by screening | 142 | Not named | – |
| Yatzidis 1984Single-arm or open-label | Haemodialysis patients with encephalopathy and neuropathy | 9 | Not named, 10 mg | – |
What's known about safety
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In trials
The summaries of the studies listed here don't report side effects, so they can't tell us how common they are. The EU Scientific Committee on Food judged the risk from usual intakes and supplements to be low, but said there are too few data to draw conclusions about very high-level supplements.
Scientific Committee on Food opinion on biotin, 2001; summaries of the listed studies, Oct 2026
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In the UK
Biotin is on the list of vitamins that may be used in food supplements in England. The Scientific Committee on Food could not set a numerical upper limit for biotin because of a lack of dose-response studies.
The Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003, Schedule 1; Scientific Committee on Food opinion on biotin, 2001
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Check first
Biotin supplements can make some blood tests give false results. Case reports describe thyroid and parathyroid hormone results that looked abnormal and returned to normal after biotin was stopped, at 5 mg and 10 mg a day. If you take biotin, tell whoever orders your blood tests. It hasn't been studied in pregnancy in the studies listed here.
Rosner 2019, case report at 5 mg a day; James 2023, case report and review at 10,000 µg a day
Where these studies come from
We list every published study in people that gave biotin on its own and measured thinking, memory, mood, stress, sleep, energy, tiredness or quality of life. Studies that only measured biotin levels, diet or genes are left out, as is biotin given only to the comparison group or to both groups as background. Biotin added to a treatment both groups get, and compared with that treatment alone, counts as on its own. This first version is built from each study's summary; full-paper checks come next.
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We search
PubMed, the world's main library of medical research, for every paper on L-theanine.
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We keep studies in people
Lab and animal work is counted but left out of the list, because it doesn't tell you what happens in people.
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We note the basics
Who took part, how many, how much and for how long, from each study's published summary. A second check corrects what the first read gets wrong.
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We read them in full
Results appear once we've read the whole paper and checked every number. The date at the top shows when this entry was last updated.
Download the study list
Every study in people as a spreadsheet, 3 rows, free to reuse with a link back.
Versions
Each update to the data gets a new version number, so you can tell what changed and when.
See every version
1.0 · 24 Oct 2026. First release. Every published study giving biotin (vitamin B7) to people that measured thinking, memory, mood, stress, sleep, energy or quality of life is listed from its summary. None is read in full yet.
