Biotin Ameliorates Skeletal Muscle Insulin Resistance in Model of Type II Diabetes. Increase in GLUT-4 Expression Yet not Accompanied by Translocation to Cell-Membrane
Image 1: Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima fatty rats (OLETF, right) have the genetical disposition to become type II diabetics. Are your nails brittle? Is your hair falling out? No? Then, are you obese or insulin resistant? Yes? ... I guess, by know you are asking yourselves what your hair and nails have to do with your pre-diabetic beer-belly. Well, according to the recently published restults from a study by Yuka Saki and his Japanese colleagues, biotin, the water-soluble nutrient that has been discovered by Bateman in 1916 and is also known as vitamin B7, vitamin H or coenzyme R could well be the missing link. After all, the well-known, but often misunderstood micronutrient plays a central role in both fatty acid, as well as glucose metabolism and is by no means just a "hair & nails" vitamin. Biotin could help even if "it's in your genes" ;-) The Japanese researchers used the infamous Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima fatty rats whose name already implies t...