Vitamin B7 (Biotin) is the focus for this Vitamin Rich post (the previous post on Vitamin B6 is here).

Vitamin B7, more commonly known as biotin, is a water-soluble nutrient that is part of the B vitamin family. B vitamins help support adrenal function, help calm and maintain a healthy nervous system, and are necessary for key metabolic processes. Biotin is essential for the metabolism of carbohydrate and fat.

Biotin has vital metabolic functions. Without biotin as a co-factor, many enzymes do not work properly, and serious complications can occur, including varied diseases of the skin, intestinal tract, and nervous system. Biotin can help address high blood glucose levels in people with type 2 diabetes, and may be helpful in maintaining healthy hair and nails, Biotin deficiency is rare but people can become deficient through long-term use of antibiotics or by regularly eating raw egg whites. It’s estimated minimum daily requirement is between 30 mcg to 100 mcg.

Foods rich in biotin

Offal
Barley
Brewer’s yeast
Fortified cereals
Corn
Egg yolks
Milk
Royal jelly
Soy
Wheat bran
Avocado
Bread
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Cheeses
Chicken
Fish
Legumes
Mushrooms
Nuts
Pork
Potatoes
Spinach
Salmon
Sunflower seeds,
Sweet potatoes

Vita-Rich Recipe 9

As you can see, lots of foods are rich in vitamin B7, so deciding on a recipe wasn’t too difficult at all, here’s one of my favourites…

Salad of avocado & leaves with warm chicken livers & crispy bacon

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
250g chicken livers (add more if you really love them!)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 Avocado
3 Rashers streaky bacon
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Mixed leaf salad

Put the oil in a frying pan and place over a medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the livers and saute until crisp on the outside but still pink on the inside. Take off the heat and immediately add the balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.

Peel and cut the avocado into bite size chunks and mix with your chosen mixed salad leaves (Rocket or watercress work really nicely in this salad)

Grill the bacon until really crisp, cut into strips, about 1cm wide and put to one side.

Divide the salad equally between the plates. Arrange equal quantities of livers over the salad and drizzle a little sauce all over. Finally, sprinkle the bacon strips on top. Serve straight away.

You can make this salad even more biotin-rich by using young spinach in the salad, by sprinkling sunflower seeds/nuts over the salad and if you don’t like chicken livers, stir fry some bite-size pieces of chicken instead. This is a lovely lunch dish, not just biotin-rich but very nutritious in general and delicious!

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