VIDEO: Biotin supplementation interferes with standard hormone, other assays
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SAN DIEGO — In this video exclusive, Saleh Aldasouqi, MD, FACE, ECNU, discusses the false high or false low results of certain hormone tests for people who take high doses of biotin in beauty and energy supplements, for example.
Aldasouqi is professor of medicine and chief of the endocrinology division at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in East Lansing.
Small amounts of biotin, or vitamin B7, contained in multivitamins are not a problem, Aldasouqi said. However, in larger amounts, serum biotin interferes with biotin in the reagent of many standard blood tests, yielding falsely high levels for small molecules and falsely low levels of large molecules. The result can mean misdiagnosis and unnecessary or even harmful treatment.
Aldasouqi recommends stopping biotin 3 days to 1 week before testing for accurate results.
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