Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA)

In 1998 the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine felt the existing scientific evidence was insufficient to calculate an EAR, and thus an RDA, for biotin. Instead an Adequate Intake level (AI) has been defined. The AI for biotin assumes that current average intakes of biotin (35 µg to 60 µg/day) are meeting the dietary requirement. An estimation of the safe and adequate daily dietary intake for biotin was made for the first time in 1980 by the Food and Nutrition Board of the United States National Research Council. The present recommendations in the USA are 20-30 µg daily for adults and children over 11 years, and 5-12 µg daily for infants and younger children. France and South Africa recommend a daily intake of up to 300 µg, and Singapore up to 400 µg biotin. Others, including the Federal Republic of Germany, assume that diet and intestinal synthesis provide sufficient amounts.