075: Why Biotin Can Mess Up Your Labs (Big Time) - a podcast by Jennifer Fugo, CNS, MS, Skin Rash Expert

Can biotin -- one of the most common supplements used for your skin, hair and nails -- mess up your labs?

Yep.

It’s actually pretty alarming how many labs will be skewed from biotin supplementation.

In today’s episode, I’m sharing the details on how much biotin can cause a problem, which tests can be majorly messed up, and what you can do to prevent biotin from skewing your labs.

This way, you can better advocate for yourself and ensure that your labs come back accurate.

In this episode:

• Why there is a Biotin Warning issued by the FDA
• How biotin supplementation can lead to misdiagnosis
• Labs that biotin specifically messes up
• Can biotin affect thyroid labs?
• How to get around biotin skewing lab data

Quotes:

Testing for heart issues can be skewed for possible Heart failure or a Heart attack. One specific issue has to do with testing for the protein troponin to identify whether a complaint of chest pain is a heart attack or GERD (heartburn).

The next one that's a pretty big deal for most of my clients would be their thyroid hormones. If you’ve ever wondered can biotin affect thyroid labs, the answer is YES.

Biotin supplementation can skew thyroid hormone results to the point where your doctor could even misdiagnose you with something like Graves' disease.

Other tests that can be affected include those for pregnancy, cancer, vitamin D, and even iron deficiency anemia.

The FDA issued a warning about this very specific problem with biotin that can skew your labs. Even small doses of 5 to 10 milligrams is enough to potentially skew the labs.

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