Vitamin B5 - Pantothen - Pantothenic acid - Calcium pantothenate
Deficiency symptoms
Exhaustion, insomnia, depression, irregular heart activity, contrariness, grumbling, exhaustion of the adrenal glands which leads to pains across the loins, immune failure and allergy, frequent respiratory diseases, loss of appetite, vomiting, constipation, low blood pressure, weak muscles, and burning feet with sore heels.
Since vitamin B5 is widely distributed, a deficiency is rare among particular population groups. The deficiency symptoms mentioned have been registered in people on an extremely panthothen-poor diet. The symptoms are quite similar to those of junk food reactions and deficiency in alcoholics, diabetics, and patients with intestinal inflammation and peptic ulcers, which prevent normal absorption and utilization of the vitamin.
RDA: 6 mg.
Therapeutic dosage
As a general supplement: 250 g. daily.
In case of severe deficiency: 0.5 to 2 g. daily.
Commercial vitamin B5 consists of synthetic calcium pantothenate. Pantothenic acid and its calcium salt are non-toxic. There are no known reports of poisoning, but very large doses of 10 to 20 g. have caused diarrhoea.
Richest natural sources
Prevalent in all natural alimentaries, but usually in very small quantities. Plentiful in brewer's yeast, organ meat, bran, cereals, peanuts, peas, and beans.
The vitamin is very resistant to normal cooking such as boiling, but very vulnerable to industrial production, since it is damaged both by acids and bases.
Grinding of cereals removes half of the vitamin B5 content and canned beans and peas lose 80% of their pantothene content. Therefore, industrially produced food is low in vitamin B5.
The vitamin is catabolized in the body into the important coenzyme A (CoA) which is associated with the mitochondrial metabolism of fatty molecules and into acetylcholine, which is quite important to the central nervous system.
Vegetarians generally have a higher blood plasma content than meat-eaters. A recurrent trait in patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis is reduced pantothenic acid concentration in the blood. Actually, the reduction of panthothen is directly proportional to the degree of rheumatoid arthritis.
Two doctors and scientists tested the theory that rheumatoid arthritis could be a deficiency syndrome by treating these patients with daily injections of 50 mg. of calcium pantothenate.
Within 7 days the blood concentration of pantothen was increased, and the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis were improved to a proportional degree. This improvement continued in the following 3 weeks' treatment. But interruption of the calcium pantothenate treatment made the symptoms return.
Another report confirmed similar improvements of even worse cases of rheumatoid arthritis. All the encouraging results leads to tests of the vitamin's effect on rheumatoid arthritis on a larger scale. The report was organised by the General Practioner Research Group and was published in their journal Practitioner.
In the trial which included 94 patients, neither the practitioners nor the patients knew whether the capsules were placebo or vitamin B5. In the treatment programme, the doses were gradually stepped up. The first two days they were 500 mg., then 1000 mg. for three days, 1500 mg. for four days and finally 2000 mg. - this dosage was administered continually the following two months, after which the test period terminated.
The results of the treatment were assessed by a number of evalution points by practitioners and patients together. Substantial results were achieved with this treatment which proved that vitamin B5 can reduce morning stiffness, pain, and disability.
Why pantothen has this beneficial effect is not generally known, but the vitamin plays an important role in the production of stress hormones. Pantothenic acid deficiency means reduced production of these hormones and, consequently, degenerating, and inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.
Vitamin B5 has also been used with good results for reducing high blood cholesterol and other superfluous blood fats. Calcium pantothenate cannot be used for this purpose. Pantotheine is a more effective form of the vitamin which reduced LDL and VLDL cholesterol and induces the formation of HDL cholesterol. These results are based on animal tests.
Similar tests have shown improved immune response with formation of macrophages and killer cells produced by the spleen.
