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When you are taking a supplement, vitamin, or anything else, usually it is for a reason. Biotin is one thing that you may take, and there are a handful of reasons why you might do so. While taking biotin, you will doubtless be looking for something to improve.
However, biotin, like any other supplement you might take, may not work the way you are undoubtedly hoping it will. So, to avoid taking biotin for months or years while getting no benefit from it – which will cost you money, especially over time – you should know just how long it will take for the biotin to work.
While some people may not see biotin helping them as soon as others, there is a limit. Continuing to take biotin past this limit is not only pointless, but it may even be harmful.
How Much Biotin You Take
Of course, how much biotin you are taking is going to affect how long it takes before you can start seeing results. If you are not getting a full daily amount of biotin, you are not likely to see any results. On the other hand, you can technically increase your daily amount of biotin and still be below the amount you need.
In that case, you might get slight improvement in some things as your body’s need for biotin becomes less pressing. The daily amount of biotin is around 30 mcg, which is for the average adult. Pregnancy, both during and after, uses up more biotin, so you’ll need more in those cases.
If you take more than this, it may be useful for your body to allow it to catch up quicker. Supposedly, as much as 100 to 200 mcg biotin is not too much to take. Even 250 mcg is acceptable if you are pregnant or lactating.
While here, how low you currently are in biotin will affect how long it will take for results as well. If you are extremely deficient in the biotin you have, it will take longer for your body to catch up.
Getting your biotin levels tested can help you know how low you are. This information, combined with how much biotin you are taking, will give you a better idea what to expect.
Finally, how much biotin you can absorb from what you take is something to consider as well. Digestion troubles, as well as certain medical conditions unrelated to that, will make you absorb less. So, even taking much more biotin than the daily amount might still mean you are not absorbing the daily amount you need of biotin.
What You Are Taking Biotin For
How long biotin will take to work for you will depend partially on what it is that you want it to work for. Remember, your body is going to prioritize where the biotin goes to as well. So, for example, your hair is the lowest and the last thing your body considers important.
This means you will use biotin on literally everything else first. If you are taking biotin for something that your body registers as important, this means you will start seeing results quickly. On the flipside, nonessential things will get taken care of last.
More than that, if a lack of biotin is causing you a certain problem, your body will deal with the worst problems first. Fatigue is one possible symptom of a biotin deficiency, but so are seizures. So, if you were on the verge of having seizures – even without realizing it – it will take longer for your systems to deal with the fatigue.
Hair, Skin, & Nails
Unfortunately, taking biotin for your hair will take a while, as your body doesn’t acknowledge hair as important. The same goes for your skin and your nails. This being the case, and taking your hairs growth cycles into consideration, give biotin at least a month, maybe two.
The results you are looking for are thicker nails and hair, both of which also become harder to break. You may even get a bit of shine to your hair and a couple of other things. If your biotin levels were low enough to cause hair loss, you will be able to grow that part back in once your levels pick up as well.
Weight Loss
An extra amount of biotin is taken by some to help with weight loss. Biotin can, in some cases, prevent the formation of fat cells. This means that, if you can use up the fat cells you currently have, you won’t replace them.
Though biotin has this effect almost immediately, you won’t see the weight loss until you get rid of the fat you already have. That is not the part biotin helps with, so it will depend on other things. In this case, you should see the effects of biotin within a couple of weeks.
Just remember to take the biotin in large enough amounts. You essentially want to overload your system just a little with the biotin for this. Also, missing a single day will allow the fat to start forming again. Finally, the more fatty foods are in your diet, the more biotin you would need for this to work.
Brain Health
Biotin can help your brain in a few different ways, sometimes being taken for depression, exhaustion, and for neural problems. As your brain is a vital part of your body, it is one of the first things that the biotin will take care of.
This means that just a couple of weeks should allow you to see results. Biotin should allow you to start feeling more energy, more emotion, and less symptoms of whatever your neural problem is. However, biotin only has a small amount of help it can offer for these, so the result will be slight. And that is only if a lack of biotin was partially the problem.
A Word Of Caution
While taking a larger amount of biotin might be very tempting in order to try and get results faster, this is highly inadvisable to do. With biotin being water soluble, you can’t store it up when you take more than the daily amount you need.
This causes all the excess biotin you take to create extra strain on your systems that must filter it out. So, kidney conditions, liver conditions, and other such things won’t appreciate too much biotin. If all the above is healthy, you probably won’t have to worry.
However, if those systems are not healthy for any reason, the excess biotin will cause even more problems for them. And that is not including biotin’s effects on lab results. You shouldn’t take biotin within 48 hours of getting lab work done if you want accurate results.
Final Thoughts
Biotin is capable of doing a lot for you. If you take biotin every day, you should get most of the benefits within two weeks to two months on average. Missing days won’t get you the same results as quickly, though.
So, try to find a good biotin supplement and start taking it so that you can start reaping the benefits of biotin as soon as you can.
