biotin

Biotin derives its vegan and vegetarian status from fumaric acid, l-cysteine, glucose.

Classifications are made based on the available commercial supply of the ingredient, and are made based on the criteria on our classifications page.

Commercially available biotin may be vegan depending on the source and may be vegetarian depending on the source.

Biotin, also known as vitamin B7 and vitamin H, is an essential nutrient. It is added as a nutrient to energy drinks, protein shakes, and nutritional bars as a nutrient and is also used as a hair and skin conditioning agent in cosmetics like conditioners. Although initially extracted from natural sources like eggs, ox liver, and milk this method is not used industrially due to the incredible effort required and small yield. Today it is commercially produced synthetically via several fairly elaborate series of chemical reactions starting from materials such as fumaric acid, l-cysteine, glucose, and a variety of other chemicals.

Sources

1. Bonrath, W., Peng, K., Dai, L., Gao, B., Friedel, A., Warnke, I., Litta, G., Casutt, M., Koppe, T., Schwarz, M., & Netscher, T. (2022). Vitamins, 11. Vitamin B₇(Biotin, Vitamin H). Ullmann’s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, 1–17. Portico.
   https://doi.org/10.1002/14356007.o27_o12.pub2