Summary
Chris Masterjohn examines the potential risks of biotin supplementation, including its interference with laboratory tests and possible adverse effects at high doses. He provides a balanced view of when biotin may help versus when it could cause harm.
Key Points
- High-dose biotin can interfere with immunoassay-based lab tests
- False results may affect thyroid, cardiac, and hormone panels
- Some individuals may experience adverse skin reactions at high doses
- Biotin supplementation requires awareness of drug and test interactions
- Proper dosing depends on individual biochemistry and health goals
Key Moments
High-dose biotin caused clumsiness, memory loss, and rage in 5 weeks
Chris Masterjohn took 10 milligrams of biotin per day as a self-experiment and within five weeks developed clumsiness, short-term memory loss, a quick temper, and possible gait abnormality. He screamed so loud at someone he saw flashing yellow lights from a blood pressure spike. The problems resolved when he stopped the biotin. He attributes this to biotin overactivating step 1 of energy metabolism without helping step 2 (the mitochondrial respiratory chain).
"Five weeks into this, I developed clumsiness, short-term memory loss, and a quick temper."
Waking lactate as the leading indicator that a supplement is harming you
Masterjohn discovered that waking fasting lactate is an excellent leading indicator of metabolic harm from supplements. His average waking lactate went from 0.6 to 1.1 mmol/L on biotin, and hit 2.0 on the last day. Thiamine at just one-fifth of a normal capsule pushed his lactate to 2.5 mmol/L. Lactate rises when step 1 of energy metabolism (breaking down macros) outpaces step 2 (making ATP with oxygen). Supplements like thiamine, B6, biotin, and manganese can all aggravate this imbalance.
"Lactate rises when step one exceeds step two, so waking fasting lactate is an excellent leading indicator of the health problems that could result from aggravating an imbalance between step one and step two."
Everyone has rare metabolic bottlenecks: the prevalence of rare problems is 100%
Masterjohn argues that collectively, rare genetic problems have a prevalence of 100% because everyone has several highly idiosyncratic bottlenecks in energy metabolism. There are 297 independent genetic impairments in step 2 of energy metabolism alone. No general rules exist for what helps versus harms any individual. Even riboflavin, which is generally supportive of step 2, may disproportionately support step 1 in some people and cause harm.
"collectively, rare problems are, what's their prevalence? 100%."
