I've been researching Biotin lately, (for myself for some skin/nails improvement).
And I ran across this interaction with Lipoic acid. The following links explain it and it is complex, but worth looking into for the people here with PN and also taking lipoic acid:
http://www.geronova.com/content/lipoic-acid-biotin
Quote:
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If supplemental biotin is desired by lipoic acid users it is likely better to consume biotin at least three hours after lipoic acid to insure both nutrients are maximally absorbed...Due to PK differences between p.o. lipoic acid and p.o. biotin, staggering the times of consumption should insure there is always sufficient biotin available to the apocarboxylases without competition or displacement by lipoic acid.
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This article is from 2009, and things have changed in the lipoic acid world. R-lipoic is no longer expensive, or hard to find. And the comments at the end of the discussion are opinion only.--In fact now this company offers Stabilized R-lipoic NaRALA! I think the high dose Alpha racemic type now costs far more than the R-lipoic we use.
The article is written by a supplement manufacturer and reflects that
opinion of his own products. This is why I put up the other links here for biotin.
I take the lipoic in the morning and the biotin at bedtime.
Low levels of biotin can occur on their own, and are thought to be caused by a defect in enzymes transporting it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biotin
One of the symptoms of low biotin is PN type symptoms!
This I never knew, mainly because biotin is not thought to be commonly deficient.
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/biotin/
So looking further I found this PubMed abstract, with 2 patients,
with loss of taste. One using Juvenon, the supplement for anti-aging with lipoic acid in it:
Quote:
J Am Coll Nutr. 2011 Jun;30(3):178-81.
Loss of taste responds to high-dose biotin treatment.
Greenway FL, Ingram DK, Ravussin E, Hausmann M, Smith SR, Cox L, Tomayko K, Treadwell BV.
Source
Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, 6400 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA. frank.greenway@pbrc.edu
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE:
We saw 2 patients who lost their sense of taste, which was restored by pharmacologic doses of biotin. The key objective is to describe the 2 case reports and suggest a potential treatment for unexplained loss of taste.
METHODS AND DESIGN:
The first patient was a 67-year-old woman who lost her sense of taste taking Juvenon, a dietary herbal supplement containing acyl-L-carnitine, lipoic acid, calcium, phosphorus, and biotin 300 μg per day. The second patient was a 60-year-old man who lost his sense of taste after a sleeve gastrectomy for obesity.
RESULTS:
The first patient did not respond to 5 mg per day of biotin, but taste was restored with 10 mg of biotin per day. Biotin was prescribed based on information that lipoic acid bound to the biotin transporter. Baseline urine gave no evidence of a pre-existing biotin deficiency. The second patient did not have restoration of taste after taking biotin 5 mg per day for 7 weeks but did have taste restoration on biotin 20 mg per day. Neither subject had an abnormal biotinidase level.
CONCLUSIONS:
Further research into the relationship of biotin to taste is clearly indicated. Loss of taste was very distressing and significantly altered the quality of life for both patients. Since biotin up to 40 mg per day has been shown to be safe, a therapeutic trial of pharmacologic doses of biotin should be considered as a potentially curative treatment in patients who present with a loss of taste that has no obvious cause.
PMID:
21896875
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21896875
Biotin has no upper limit for toxicity (like B12) and therefore is easy to take. I am using 5000mcg biotin from Puritan's. It is fairly inexpensive too. They offer several types and doses. I take it at bedtime..no side effects no worries about food intake etc. Already it seems to be helping my skin on my arms which had a vague redness and occurred years ago from a reaction to the lake water + sunlight on a vacation. It also seems to be helping me sleep, which I didn't expect.
But I've been thinking that it might help with the body burning type of pain, or facial pain that some posters here report.
The connection to lipoic acid intake is mentioned on various papers, but a definitive connection hasn't been made yet.
But since many here are now using lipoic acid daily for long periods, it might be helpful to consider adding the biotin to it as well.
Also another benefit listed in the links above is a reduction in fasting
blood sugars. For those here with insulin resistance or prediabetes, this might be a helpful result. The doses need to be high, 5000, 10,000mcg a day.
Biotin is depleted by long term or repeated use of antibiotics.
Also the older anticonvulsants like phenobarbital, are listed as depleters. It is not known if gabapentin is in that group as yet.
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All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.-- Galileo Galilei
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Weezie looking at petunias 8.25.2017
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