Hello! I'm Haro from YakAl.!

Hair lossâthe sworn enemy of young adult men.!

To prevent and treat hair loss,,

many people use hair loss supplements.!

Butâ¦ as much as hair loss supplements,

there is no supplement plagued by false advertising and viral marketing....

To address these challenges,,

YakAl evaluates supplements by product category and this time,,

in this session,

I want to write in detail about what process I went through to analyze biotin,

and how I evaluated biotin supplements.,

!

0. Behind-the-Scenes Story

Biotin is something I have a connection withâ a supplement..

During my time as a test-prep student, I experienced tremendous stress,,

and as a result of that stress, I developed hair loss..

My hair, which used to be full and thick,

suddenly became sparse and thin,

and I thought to myself, "This is becoming irreversible."!

,

So I went to a hair loss specialty clinic, got diagnosed with hair loss,,

and was prescribed finasteride..

However, initially,

I didn't see great results from finasteride alone..

While the progression of hair loss seemed to have stopped,,

I didn't feel like my hair was regrowing..

When my hair condition plateaued like this,,

synthesizing research papers, news articles, blogs, and doctors' opinions,

I took the following additional measures:.

applying topical medication every night (minoxidil))
taking the proper dosage of supplements containing brewer's yeast and biotin.

Initially, when I only applied minoxidil,

I didn't see great results,,

but when I took the additional step

of taking supplements,

things started to change..

The white patches on my crown began to fill in,,

and people around me who suspected I had hair loss started asking me

what medications I was taking and how I treated it.

.

While not completely cured, I've reached a stage where I no longer need to feel ashamed of hair loss.

!

Of course, some of you reading this will think

to yourselves:.

"Biotin and brewer's yeast have no effect on hair loss."…?

Yes. About 70% of that is correct..

If you blindly fall for exaggerated advertisements and take anything,

of course it won't be effective..

And supplements are supplementary aids to treatmentâ,

they can never directly treat anything..

But in my case, before taking supplements,

I personally researched multiple research papers and resources to back up the basis for treatment,

,

and because I properly understood my own hair condition and the cause of my hair loss, selecting supplements myself,,

I was able to use supplements more efficiently..

As a test-prep student and someone living alone, I had nutritional imbalances..

As a result, I had abnormal symptoms in various parts of my body, including hair loss.

.

Because of this, by taking biotin and brewer's yeast,

I supplemented the hair-related proteins my body was lacking,,

and it seems my hair loss symptoms were alleviated as a result..

That was a long introduction! ãã…

So, during the time I suffered from hair loss,,

let's look at how I selected biotin supplements

shall we?~?

1. Active Ingredients

With biotin, the content of active ingredients is important.,

You shouldn't take too little biotin,,

but taking more than a certain amount

is neither necessary nor recommended.!

The recommended dose of biotin for hair loss treatment is

5000-10000 µg around 2.5 mg per day,,

and dosing above this level doesn't increase effects proportionally to the amount taken..

(The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has set an upper limit of 10,000 Î¼g per day..)

Biotin is a water-soluble vitamin,,

and water-soluble vitamins are not absorbed by the body in the intestines

beyond what is needed; instead, they are excreted.

Additionally, in cases where biotin is not deficient,

additional intake does not show clear effects..

Because of this, when we evaluate supplements,,

if ingredients exceed or

fall short of certain amounts,

we deduct points..

2. Price

Price is evaluated using the same criteria

as when evaluating other supplements. .

Since biotin is mainly made into pills,

we scored based on price per pill,,

and for supplements in capsule or powder form,

we scored based on price per serving.!

3. Brand

First, the certification mark I value most is

GMP..

Among these, I place great importance on the GMP mark attached to products;,

the GMP mark on a company

“means "GMP-certified manufacturing facility"”,

indicating that the manufacturing facility (factory) has equipment, sanitation, and quality management systems that meet GMP standards.!
In other words, not all products from this company are guaranteed GMP quality.!

In contrast, the GMP mark on a product,

means that this specific product was manufactured in a GMP-certified process and the final product has also been quality-managed to meet GMP standards. .
Typically, this mark is attached to health functional foods certified by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety..

To define it simply:,

just because a company has attached a GMP mark doesn't mean all its products have GMP quality, ****

,

****but if a GMP mark is attached to a product,

that product is certified for GMP quality.!

Additionally, we place importance on the origin of raw material extraction, so when biotin ingredients from advanced countries' manufacturers, including DSM, a French biotin specialization manufacturer, are clearly shown in the nutritional information,

we gave high scores; ,

when the product description says that raw materials from the importer are used

but the actual nutritional information doesn't show the country of origin,

we scored lower than usual..

Besides this, we researched certification marks and track records of the manufacturer through websites,

to determine whether the company that makes the product is truly trustworthy,

and did so on your behalf.!

4. Quality

When evaluating these supplements,

the area I researched most thoroughly was

the quality section..

Among these, the items I valued most were

whether it was organic and whether it contained dry yeast..

Biotin made using yeast grown organically

unlike regular biotin,

prevents side effects that can arise from

byproducts such as pesticides,

and dry yeast

is generally considered a natural ingredient, and through the yeast growth process,

vitamin B complex, including biotin,

is naturally included,,

so it can be a great opportunity to intake not just biotin but various vitamin B groups.!

Besides this, the supplement formulation

whether it's capsule, powder, or tablet formâI distinguished, and,

whether the formulation, packaging container, and material

were specially made was also evaluated,,

and the purity of the biotin added was also evaluated..

Considering these evaluation criteria,

I evaluated the quality of biotin..

5. Secondary Ingredients

When evaluating secondary ingredients, I

adopted nearly identical criteria and evaluated based on,

the following standards:.

How many supporting ingredients for biotin are included??
How few unnecessary ingredients are there??

Unnecessary ingredients refer to,

synthetic additives or excipientsâ

ingredients unrelated to the purpose of taking the supplement..

Because of this, in the supplements I evaluated,

complex nutritional formulas received higher scores in this section than single-ingredient biotin products.

.

The reason I selected this evaluation method is that,

if there are many secondary ingredients,

there is the convenience and utility of supplementing multiple ingredients at once when taking one pill, ,

and at the same time, there is the value-for-money aspect of not needing to take other supplements.

.

Most importantly, there is an interactive synergistic effect between primary and secondary ingredients,

so the more ingredients that help with hair loss are included,

the synergistic effect can be even greater.!

For example, B-complex vitamins

mostly work together through the same pathways, and some help each other's absorption.,

!

(Vitamin B6 is involved in energy metabolism together with biotin.)

Because of this,,

a complex formula with several good secondary ingredients in appropriate amounts

would perform and be more efficient, right??

In Closing…

I evaluated biotin using the above criteria,,

and beyond that, based on multiple research papers,

I thoroughly investigated whether the supplement's ingredients, manufacturing process, and advertising methods

are reasonable..

The above method is

the same one I used when selecting a biotin product for myself,

so,

you can think of me as evaluating your products

the same way I would select a product for myself.

.

I will continue to help you select better supplements in the future.~!

That's all from YakAl's Haro.!