Biotin and thyroid tests

[Mstiles]

Hello everyone,

Is 48 hours enough time to be off biotin and b-vitamins before a thyroid antibody test?

[shaws Administrator]

I am not sure of the answer but biotin certainly has an affect on blood tests. This is an excerpt:

Biotin Vigilance

Greenlee is now making sure her practice identifies any patients taking the supplement: “We have huge signs in my office that ask people if they are taking biotin — in each exam room, over the phlebotomy chair, and at the front desk. We had all these nice pictures on our walls, but the biotin thing alarmed us so much that we don’t care about our decorations in our office anymore.”

“It can be dangerous not to recognize it,” Mariash agrees. He also notes that clinicians need to be vigilant because laboratories can change the test platform without notice.

For the interference to occur, the patient’s biotin level needs to be high — at least three times the upper limit of the healthy adult reference range, according to Grebe. But that level is easy to achieve with the megadoses many are taking.

Grebe suggests that a clinician can ask the lab to try using another manufacturer’s test, but an easier route is to ask the patient to stop the biotin then get retested. Biotin is water soluble, so it washes out of the body quickly — even a single day can make a big difference in the test results.

And although literature reports mostly focus on problems with parathyroid and thyroid hormone tests, biotin interference could be considered as a potential contributor to almost any suspicious immunoassay result.

Published by the Endocrine Society, Endocrine News is a monthly publication that offers an in-depth look at endocrinology trends and research, from reproductive issues to biotin concerns to thyroid problems. When you’re looking for the latest studies, interviews and commentary on endocrinology, you can find it on our site. With that in mind, if you’re interested in reading additional content with timely, accurate information on thyroid issues, check out our other articles such as “Fairytales: Dispelling Pediatric Thyroid Cancer Myths” and “Thyroid Cancer and Radioiodine.”

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