Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid)
Vitamin B5, also called pantothenic acid, is one of 8 B vitamins. All B vitamins help the body convert food (carbohydrates) into fuel (glucose), which the body uses to produce energy. These B vitamins, often referred to as B complex vitamins, also help the body use fats and protein. B complex vitamins are needed for healthy skin, hair, eyes, and liver. They also help the nervous system function properly.
All B vitamins are water-soluble, meaning that the body does not store them.
In addition to playing a role in the breakdown of fats and carbohydrates for energy, vitamin B5 is critical to the manufacture of red blood cells, as well as sex and stress-related hormones produced in the adrenal glands, small glands that sit atop the kidneys. Vitamin B5 is also important in maintaining a healthy digestive tract, and it helps the body use other vitamins, particularly B2 (also called riboflavin). It is sometimes called the "anti-stress" vitamin, but there is no concrete evidence whether it helps the body withstand stress.
Your body needs pantothenic acid to synthesize cholesterol. A derivative of pantothenic acid called pantethine is being studied to see if it may help lower cholesterol levels in the body.
Vitamin B5 deficiency is rare, but may include symptoms such as fatigue, insomnia, depression, irritability, vomiting, stomach pains, burning feet, and upper respiratory infections.
High Cholesterol/High Triglycerides
Several small, double-blind studies suggest that pantethine may help reduce triglycerides, or fats, in the blood in people who have high cholesterol. Some of these studies show that pantethine helped lower LDL (bad) cholesterol and raise HDL (good) cholesterol. In some open studies, pantethine seems to lower levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in people with diabetes. But not all studies agree. Larger studies are needed to see whether pantethine has any real benefit.
Skin Care and Wound Healing
Preliminary research suggests that vitamin B5 has moisturizing effects on the skin, however, researchers aren't clear why it works. Other studies, mostly in test tubes and animals but a few on people, suggest that vitamin B5 supplements may speed wound healing, especially following surgery. This may be particularly true if vitamin B5 is combined with vitamin C.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Preliminary evidence suggests that pantothenic acid might improve symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but the evidence is weak. One study found that people with RA may have lower levels of B5 in their blood than healthy people, and the lowest levels were associated with the most severe symptoms. Other studies show that calcium pantothenate improves symptoms of RA, including morning stiffness and pain. More studies are needed to confirm these findings.
Dietary Sources
Pantothenic acid gets its name from the Greek root pantos, meaning "everywhere," because it is available in a wide variety of foods. However, the vitamin B5 in foods is lost during processing. Fresh meats, vegetables, and whole unprocessed grains have more vitamin B5 than refined, canned, and frozen food. The best sources are brewer's yeast, corn, cauliflower, kale, broccoli, tomatoes, avocado, legumes, lentils, egg yolks, beef (especially organ meats such as liver and kidney), turkey, duck, chicken, milk, split peas, peanuts, soybeans, sweet potatoes, sunflower seeds, whole-grain breads and cereals, lobster, wheat germ, and salmon.
Available Forms
Vitamin B5 can be found in multivitamins and B complex vitamins, or sold separately under the names pantothenic acid and calcium pantothenate. It is available in a variety of forms including tablets, softgels, and capsules.
How to Take It
Unlike other vitamins, vitamin B5 has no Recommended Dietary Allowance. Experts recommend the following daily intakes of dietary vitamin B5:
Pediatric
- Infants birth - 6 months: 1.7 mg
- Infants 7 months - 1 year: 1.8 mg
- Children 1 - 3 years: 2 mg
- Children 4 - 8 years: 3 mg
- Children 9 - 13 years: 4 mg
- Teens 14 - 18 years: 5 mg
Adult
- 19 years and older: 5 mg
- Pregnant women: 6 mg
- Breastfeeding women: 7 mg
Higher doses may be recommended by a health care provider for the treatment of specific conditions.
Precautions
Because of the potential for side effects and interactions with medications, you should take dietary supplements only under the supervision of a knowledgeable health care provider.
Doctors consider vitamin B5 safe at doses equal to the daily intake, and at moderately higher doses. Very high doses may cause diarrhea and may increase the risk of bleeding.
Pregnant and breastfeeding women should not exceed the daily adequate intake unless directed by their doctor.
Vitamin B5 should be taken with water, preferably after eating.
Taking any one of the B vitamins for a long period of time can result in an imbalance of other important B vitamins. For this reason, you may want to take a B complex vitamin, which includes all the B vitamins.
Possible Interactions
If you are being treated with any of the following medications, you should not use vitamin B5 supplements without first talking to your health care provider.
Antibiotics, Tetracycline -- Vitamin B5 interferes with the absorption and effectiveness of the antibiotic tetracycline. You should take B vitamins at different times from tetracycline. All vitamin B complex supplements act in this way and should be taken at different times from tetracycline.
Drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease -- Vitamin B5 may increase the effects of a group of drugs called cholinesterase inhibitors, which are used to treat Alzheimer's disease. That might lead to severe side effects. You should not take these drugs with B5 unless under a doctor's supervision. Cholinesterase inhibitors include:
- Donepezil (Aricept)
- Memantine hydrochloride (Ebixa)
- Galantamine (Reminyl)
- Rivastigime (Exelon)
Since high doses of vitamin B5 can increase bleeding, you should take extra care if you take blood-thinning medications, such as warfarin (Coumadin), aspirin, and others.
Supporting Research
Ellinger S, Stehle P. Efficacy of vitamin supplementation in situations with wound healing disorders: results from clinical intervention studies. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2009 Nov;12(6):588-95. Review.
Joncyzk R, Ronconi S, Rychlik M, Genschel U. Pantothenate synthetase is essential but not limiting for pantothenate biosynthesis in Arabidopsis. Plant Mol Biol. 2008;66(1-2):1-14.
Konings EJ; Committee on Food Nutrition. Water-soluble vitamins. JAOAC Int. 2006 Jan-Feb;89(1):285-8.
McCarty MF. Inhibition of acetyl-CoA carboxylase by cystamine may mediate the hypotriglyceridemic activity of pantethine. Med Hypotheses. 2001;56(3):314-317.
McPherson. Henry's Clinical Diagnosis and Management by Laboratory Methods, 22nd ed. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, An Imprint of Elsevier. 2011.
Naruta E, Buko V. Hypolipidemic effect of pantothenic acid derivatives in mice with hypothalamic obesity induced by aurothioglucose. Exp Toxicol Pathol. 2001;53(5):393-398.
National Academy of Sciences. Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs): Recommended Intakes for Individuals, Vitamins. Accessed June 1, 2011.
Nutrients and Nutritional Agents. In: Kastrup EK, Hines Burnham T, Short RM, et al, eds. Drug Facts and Comparisons. St. Louis, Mo: Facts and Comparisons; 2000:4-5.
Pins JJ, Keenan JM. Dietary and nutraceutical options for managing the hypertriglyceridemic patient. Prog Cardiovasc Nurs. 2006 Spring;21(2):89-93. Review.
Scheurig AC, Thorand B, Fischer B, Heier M, Koenig W. Association between the intake of vitamins and trace elements from supplements and C-reactive protein: results of the MONICA/KORA Augsburg study. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2007 Feb 21; [Epub ahead of print]