Definition: Pantothenic acid — also known as vitamin B5 — is a water-soluble vitamin that is a precursor in the synthesis of coenzyme A.

• Coenzyme A is essential to many biochemical reactions that sustain life. Also, the phosphopantetheinyl moiety of coenzyme A is required for the biological activity of several proteins, including the acyl-carrier protein involved in the fatty acid synthesis.
• Pantothenic acid is essential to all forms of life. It is ubiquitously found in foods of plant and animal origin, and dietary deficiency is very rare.
• The Food and Nutrition Board of the US Institute of Medicine set an adequate intake (AI) of 5 milligrams (mg)/day for adults based on the estimated daily average intake of pantothenic acid.
• Evidence from limited intervention studies suggests that pantothenic acid and/or pantothenol (alcohol analog) might improve the healing process of skin wounds. Yet, additional larger studies are warranted.
• Treatment with high-dose pantethine — a pantothenic acid derivative — has been shown to lower serum cholesterol and lipid concentrations.
• Foods rich in pantothenic acid include animal organs (liver and kidney), fish, shellfish, milk products, eggs, avocados, legumes, mushrooms, and sweet potatoes.
• Little or no toxicity has been associated with dietary and supplemental pantothenic acid such that no tolerable upper intake level (UL) has been set.
• Pantothenic acid deficiency in animals resulted in growth retardation, anorexia, duodenal ulcers, hair loss, abnormal gait, ulcerative lesions in the colon, epistaxis, fatty infiltration of the liver, impaired immune function and adrenal function, atrophy of thymic lymphoid tissue, altered lipid metabolism, anemia, granulocytopenia, and reproductive abnormalities.

Nutrient interaction

• A study in rats suggested that pantothenic acid requirements are increased by copper deficiency.

Preparations

• Calcium pantothenate is the form of pantothenic acid used most frequently for oral administration. Dexpanthenol (also called D-pantothenyl alcohol or D-panthenol) is the alcohol analogue of pantothenic acid and is the most widely used injectable form of pantothenic acid. Dexpanthenol is oxidized to pantothenic acid in both rats and humans, and these compounds were equally effective in curing pantothenic acid deficiency in rats.

Dosage and Administration

• Most multivitamin preparations provide at least 5 mg/day of pantothenic acid.
• Dosages used to treat various clinical conditions have ranged from 100–10,000 mg/day.