Interference of Biotin Supplementation in Biotin-streptavidin Platforms for Hormone Testing

The B vitamin biotin is widely available as an over the counter supplement, often advertised and used to promote health of hair, skin and nails. Commercially available over the counter biotin supplements contain dose ranges up to 10 mg/day (ie 333 times higher than the recommended dietary allowance). The biotin molecule is also sometimes used as part of the lab technology to measure hormone and protein levels in the blood. It is possible that high doses of ingested biotin may interfere with accurate hormone or protein measurement using biotin related in vitro measurement systems. Such interference, if present, could lead to misdiagnosis. The study will analyze laboratory levels obtained with streptavidin-biotin assay systems while ingesting biotin in currently available high dose supplements. The data will be compared to measurements obtained prior to and one week after stopping the biotin supplement.