Serum Biotin and Blood Glucose in Subjects with Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

To evaluate the relationship between biotin status and blood glucose, we measured the levels of serum biotin, blood glucose and biochemical variables in subjects with diabetes mellitus. The mean of serum biotin level in 284 diabetic subjects was 1.5±0.31 ng/ ml, which was significantly lower than 2.3±0.35ng/ml in 2,004 healthy adults. In these diabetics, the serum biotin was decreased with advancing age, but no sex difference was detected. Although there was no correlation between serum biotin and fasting blood sugar, a positive correlation existed between serum biotin level and blood glucose 60 and 120 min after an oral glucose tolerance test. In addition, on the basis of correlation coefficients among biochemical variables in serum, the biotin level correlated with HDL-cholesterol (r=0.125, P=0.035) . A negative correlation of biotin status with BUN was observed (r=-0.126, p=0.034) . The present findings demonstrate that biotin plays an important role in carbohydrate metabolism as well as gluconeogenesis and fatty acid synthesis.