Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid)

Vitamin B5, or pantothenic acid, is a water-soluble B vitamin. The body uses it to build coenzyme A (CoA) and acyl carrier protein, according to the NIH (the US National Institutes of Health). These two helpers move fatty acids and acetyl groups through metabolism. Its name comes from the Greek pantothen, “from everywhere”, because small amounts turn up in almost every food.

That is also why true deficiency is so rare. The NIH says it has been seen only in severe malnutrition and in experiments. These took the vitamin out of the diet or blocked it with an antagonist (a blocking compound). Burning, numb feet in underfed prisoners of war in World War II were ascribed to it.

A typical US diet gives about 6 mg a day, against an adequate intake (a best-estimate daily target) of 5 mg.

Here is what most readers do not know. The popular uses, for cholesterol, acne and hair, rest on small trials, on mixtures, or on a different molecule. The cholesterol results come from pantethine, a derivative, at 600 to 900 mg a day. The NIH says pantothenic acid itself does not appear to have the same effect.

This page weighs 23 studies and says plainly where the evidence is thin.

Health benefits of vitamin B5

• ★★★EU-recognized roles in energy and less tirednessThe EU allows four health claims for pantothenic acid, including normal energy metabolism, less tiredness and normal mental performance. They describe its normal roles in the body, not a treatment.
• ★★Slightly lower LDL, but only from pantethinePantethine, a form made from B5, lowered LDL cholesterol a little more than placebo in 120 people (4 mg/dL). The NIH says pantothenic acid itself does not appear to do this.
• ★★No help in PKAN from a B5-pathway drugIn 84 people with PKAN, a rare inherited disease, a drug that supplies a B5 building block did not improve daily function compared with placebo. It is a drug, not a vitamin supplement.
• ★Fewer acne lesions in one sponsored trialAdults with mild to moderate acne had fewer facial lesions at 12 weeks on a pantothenic acid-based supplement than on placebo. The maker sponsored this small trial, and no second trial was found.
• ★Faster skin repair with dexpanthenol on the skinDexpanthenol, a B5 derivative, closed laser-treated skin faster than petroleum jelly in 38 people. A dexpanthenol cream also repaired irritated skin faster than the cream base alone. These are skin products, not pills.

Foods high in vitamin B5

Poultry, fish, avocado and legumes lead our USDA ranking per serving. Chicken breast gives 1.69 mg in 4 oz (113 g), 34% of the 5 mg Daily Value (the FDA’s daily target for food labels). Wild Atlantic salmon (1.41 mg in 3 oz) and half an avocado (1.4 mg) follow. The ranking shows the rest, from a chicken drumstick and lentils to white mushrooms.

Per 100 g, peanuts (1.77 mg), wild salmon (1.66 mg) and farmed salmon (1.55 mg) lead, then eggs and white mushrooms. Per 100 kcal, white mushrooms (6.8 mg) and endive (5.29 mg) top the list.

Beef liver is not in our ranking, but the NIH lists boiled beef liver at 8.3 mg in 3 oz, 166% of the Daily Value. Cooked shiitake mushrooms have 2.6 mg per half cup and sunflower seeds 2.4 mg per quarter cup. Breakfast cereals fortified to 100% of the Daily Value give 5 mg.

Pantothenic acid is added to some cereals and drinks, and almost all plant and animal foods hold some. The Scientific Committee on Food names yeast and organ meats as the richest sources. Eggs, milk, whole grain cereals and vegetables such as broccoli are good ones.

Processing and absorption change what you get. The NIH reports food processing losses of 20% to almost 80%. The Scientific Committee on Food says calcium pantothenate, the supplement salt, is destroyed by heat and by alkaline or acid conditions.

About 85% of the pantothenic acid in food is bound as coenzyme A or phosphopantetheine, which gut enzymes free before absorption. The pantothenate in an average American diet was about half as available (50%) as the pure vitamin. Gut bacteria make some too, but how much of it is absorbed is not known.

How vitamin B5 works

Most of the biochemistry below is well established. But the details come from reviews, enzyme work, cells and animals, and the human evidence is on the study cards above.

Three ideas cover most of it. Pantothenic acid is the raw material for coenzyme A, and coenzyme A carries carbon fragments through fat and energy metabolism. One carrier in the gut and in cells takes up pantothenic acid together with biotin.

Two more points follow. Only about half of the pantothenic acid in a mixed diet is absorbed, and a faulty first enzyme causes a rare brain disease. Here is each one, and what has been seen in people.

It is the raw material for coenzyme A

Cells build coenzyme A from pantothenate, the amino acid cysteine and ATP, in five enzyme steps. The first step adds a phosphate to pantothenate and is run by pantothenate kinase. The Scientific Committee on Food says the end products, coenzyme A and its acyl forms, control this enzyme. So a cell makes about as much as it needs.

Most pantothenic acid in tissues is coenzyme A, with smaller amounts in acyl carrier protein or free. Red blood cells carry it through the body, according to the NIH.

Coenzyme A carries carbon fragments through fat and energy metabolism

The NIH says coenzyme A is essential for making and breaking down fatty acids. It is also essential for passing acetyl and acyl groups from one molecule to another. Acyl carrier protein helps build fatty acids, the NIH adds.

A 2024 review lists the energy (Krebs) cycle, the burning of nutrients, histone acetylation and the making of lipids, glycans and heme among its jobs. Acetyl-coenzyme A also acts as a signal that tells the cell how much energy it has. This breadth is why the EU authorized claims about energy metabolism and about steroid hormones, vitamin D and some neurotransmitters.

One carrier brings in vitamin B5 and biotin

Cells take up pantothenate through a sodium-dependent multivitamin transporter (SMVT), which also carries biotin and lipoate. In the cloning study, rat placental SMVT moved pantothenate and biotin with constants of 4.9 and 15.1 micromolar. In human colon cells, pantothenic acid competed with biotin for uptake.

Food holds about 200 times more pantothenic acid than biotin, so competition looked possible. But at normal concentrations, pantothenic acid reduced biotin uptake by less than 12% in human white blood cells. The NIH adds that gut bacteria make some pantothenic acid, but how much of it the body absorbs is not known.

About half of the pantothenic acid in food is absorbed

About 85% of the pantothenic acid in food is bound as coenzyme A or phosphopantetheine. Gut enzymes free it before it is absorbed by active transport, and possibly by simple diffusion at higher doses, according to the NIH.

A controlled feeding study judged this by urinary excretion. The pantothenate in an average American diet was about half as available (50%, range 40% to 61%) as the pure vitamin. That study is one of the cards in the forms section below.

When the first enzyme fails, the brain suffers

Mutations in the PANK2 gene reduce the activity of pantothenate kinase 2 and cause pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN), according to the NIH. This rare inherited disorder brings brain iron accumulation, dystonia (uncontrolled muscle contractions) and sometimes retinal damage. It is not a dietary deficiency.

Whether pantothenate supplements help is not known, the NIH says. The one randomized trial of a drug that replaces the missing building block found no benefit in 84 patients.

What has been seen in people

The clearest result is about the need itself. Deficiency has been produced only by diets nearly free of pantothenic acid or by an antagonist. It caused burning, numb hands and feet, headache, fatigue and stomach upset. Beyond that, extra pantothenic acid has little proven benefit.

Pantethine at 600 to 900 mg a day lowered LDL cholesterol by 4% against placebo in 120 people and by 11% from baseline in 32. One sponsored trial found fewer acne lesions, and mixtures with vitamin C or cysteine showed no clear gain in wounds or exercise.

Large cohorts point in both directions: UK Biobank linked intake to lower mortality and to more macular degeneration. All of these are among the study cards above.

How much vitamin B5 do you need?

Adults need 5 mg of pantothenic acid a day, according to both the US and the EU. These are adequate intakes (AIs), best estimates used when the data are too thin for recommended allowances. The US Food and Nutrition Board found the data insufficient to set an average requirement and based its values on usual intakes in healthy people.

EFSA based its value on observed intakes with a mixed diet and the apparent absence of deficiency in the EU. The label value, the Daily Value, is 5 mg.

In pregnancy the US adequate intake rises to 6 mg a day, while EFSA keeps the adult 5 mg. While breastfeeding both set 7 mg, which EFSA says compensates for losses in breast milk. Teenagers aged 14 to 18 have 5 mg in the US, and EFSA sets 4 mg for children and 5 mg for adolescents.

For infants, the US sets 1.7 mg a day up to 6 months and 1.8 mg from 7 to 12 months. EFSA sets 3 mg from 6 months. Older adults keep the adult value in both systems. We found no separate, higher value for any group other than pregnancy (US) and breastfeeding.

Many people eat close to the target. The NIH says a typical mixed US diet gives about 6 mg a day. In a 1996 to 1997 survey in New Brunswick, Canada, women averaged 4.0 mg and men 5.5 mg. An adequate intake is not a cutoff for deficiency, so eating a little less than 5 mg is not a sign of a problem.

Vitamin B5 deficiency: signs and who is at risk

Deficiency is rare except in people with severe malnutrition, according to the NIH. The NIH adds that it usually comes with shortages of other nutrients, which makes the effects of pantothenic acid itself hard to separate. The only people known to have developed it were fed diets with almost no pantothenic acid or took an antagonist of its metabolism. In underfed prisoners of war in the Philippines in World War II, painful burning feet and numb toes were ascribed to it.

In experimental deficiency, volunteers had headache, fatigue, insomnia, irritability, restlessness, numbness and burning of the hands and feet, and stomach upset with poor appetite. The Scientific Committee on Food adds a weaker response to the stress hormone ACTH and a loss of antibody production in those experiments.

Status is not routinely measured. Urinary excretion tracks intake best: about 2.6 mg a day on a typical American diet, and under 1 mg a day suggests deficiency. Whole-blood levels of 1.6 to 2.7 µmol/L (micromoles per liter) are normal and below 1 µmol/L are low, the NIH says. Plasma levels do not follow intake.

Severe malnutrition is the main risk. A separate group is people with PKAN, who have a faulty first enzyme of coenzyme A production. That is a gene problem, not a shortage in the diet.

Forms of vitamin B5: absorption and effects

Pantothenic acid is sold and used in several forms. Free pantothenic acid and its sodium salt are chemically unstable, so supplements usually hold calcium pantothenate, according to the Scientific Committee on Food. Pantethine, a dimer (paired molecule) of pantetheine, is the form tested in cholesterol trials.

Panthenol, also called dexpanthenol, is the alcohol form, which the body oxidizes to pantothenic acid. It is the one used in skin creams. In food, about 85% of pantothenic acid is bound as coenzyme A or phosphopantetheine.

The honest bottom line: the NIH says no study has compared how well the body absorbs pantothenic acid from calcium pantothenate and pantethine. We found no head-to-head human trial of calcium pantothenate against panthenol or pantethine. The studies below each test one form: food against the pure vitamin, dexpanthenol on skin, and dexpanthenol by injection.

In the outcome trials above, the cholesterol trials used pantethine at 600 to 900 mg a day. The hair-loss trial used calcium pantothenate with zinc sulfate. The acne trial used an unnamed pantothenic acid-based product, and the wound and exercise trials mixed pantothenic acid with vitamin C or cysteine.

Form	Activity or conversion	What studies show	Source
Calcium pantothenate	Not stated	The usual supplement salt, stable in neutral solution and destroyed by heat and by alkaline or acid conditions. It was one arm of the hair-loss trial, mixed with zinc sulfate. We found no human study comparing its absorption with other forms. Contact allergy is rare, with case reports from cosmetics.	1, 2, 10, 11
Free pantothenic acid and sodium pantothenate	Not stated	Chemically unstable, which is why they are not the usual supplement form. Trials often list the form simply as “pantothenic acid”.	2
Pantethine	Not stated. A dimer of pantetheine, a coenzyme A building block	The form used in the cholesterol trials: 600 to 900 mg a day lowered LDL cholesterol 4% against placebo in 120 people, and 11% from baseline in 32. The NIH says pantothenic acid itself does not appear to do this, and no study has compared how well the body absorbs pantethine and calcium pantothenate.	1, 8, 9
Panthenol and dexpanthenol	Oxidized in the body to pantothenic acid	The alcohol form, used in creams and cosmetics. On skin it sped up barrier repair after irritation and wound closure after laser treatment; by injection it shortened the time to a first bowel movement in a pilot of 60 patients.	2, 4, 5, 6, 7
Pantothenic acid in food	About 85% is coenzyme A or phosphopantetheine; about 50% as available as the pure vitamin (range 40% to 61%)	Gut enzymes free pantothenic acid from its bound forms before absorption. Availability was judged from urinary excretion in a controlled feeding study.	1, 3

Here are the human studies of forms, 5 in all.

Is vitamin B5 safe? Supplements, dose and interactions

Pantothenic acid from food is not a safety concern, and neither the US nor the EU has set an upper level. The Food and Nutrition Board could not set a tolerable upper intake level because it found no reports of toxicity in humans at high intakes.

The Scientific Committee on Food reached a similar view in 2002. It found no human report of harm from oral pantothenic acid or panthenol, and too few dose-response data to derive a number. It judged that intakes well above current levels do not represent a health risk for the general population. No upper level does not prove a safe ceiling, and EFSA’s 2014 opinion sets only adequate intakes.

• Doses and side effects. Supplements range from about 10 mg in multivitamins to up to 1,000 mg in B-complex or single-vitamin products, the NIH says. Some people taking about 10 g a day develop mild diarrhea and stomach upset. The Scientific Committee on Food reports occasional diarrhea and water retention at 10 to 20 g a day. As that committee describes it, a 1980 trial gave up to 2 g a day of calcium pantothenate for 8 weeks. It noted no side effects in 94 people with arthritic symptoms.
• Mixtures. In one 12-week trial, 41 children took 1.2 g of pantothenic acid with 3 g of nicotinamide. The mix also held 3 g of vitamin C and 0.6 g of vitamin B6, and 17 children had raised liver enzymes. The Scientific Committee on Food said the study cannot show which ingredient was to blame. It is a reason to be careful with high-dose B-complex products.
• Biotin. The two vitamins share a carrier, but at normal concentrations pantothenic acid cut biotin uptake by less than 12% in human white blood cells. We found no human study showing that pantothenic acid supplements lower biotin status.
• Skin products. Contact allergy to calcium pantothenate has been reported from cosmetics in case reports. A 2026 review calls pantothenate allergy rare but possibly under-diagnosed in people with atopic skin.
• Medicines, pregnancy and who should ask a doctor. The NIH knows of no clinically relevant drug interactions. We found no study of high-dose supplements in pregnancy. Talk to a doctor first if you have PKAN or are thinking of pantethine for cholesterol. The same goes for high doses for acne or hair loss. A supplement is not a replacement for proven treatment.

How to get more vitamin B5

• Eat a mix of foods. Almost every food holds some. In our ranking, 4 oz of chicken breast gives 1.69 mg (34% of the Daily Value) and half an avocado 1.4 mg. A cup of lentils gives 1.26 mg and a cup of white mushrooms 1.05 mg. The NIH lists boiled beef liver at 8.3 mg in 3 oz.
• Favor less processed foods. The NIH reports processing losses of 20% to almost 80%, and only about half of the pantothenic acid in a mixed diet is absorbed. So fresh and lightly processed foods are the safer bet.
• Do not expect much from pills. A typical US diet gives about 6 mg a day against an adequate intake of 5 mg. The acne, wound and exercise trials above used far larger doses with limited or null results.

History of vitamin B5

In the 1920s, researchers learned that the heat-stable “vitamin B2” in yeast was not one substance but several. They included niacin, biotin and pantothenic acid, according to a 2012 history. Roger Williams showed in 1933 that pantothenic acid was needed for yeast to grow. His paper called it a growth determinant of “universal biological occurrence”.

He named it from the Greek pantothen, “from everywhere”, because it appeared in almost every food he tested. He worked out its structure in 1940, and it was soon shown to cure a skin disease in chickens too.

The reason it is everywhere came with coenzyme A. Fritz Lipmann won half of the 1953 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering coenzyme A and its importance for intermediary metabolism. He shared it with Hans Krebs, honored for the citric acid cycle.

Deficiency in people was shown in two ways. Underfed prisoners of war in World War II developed burning feet. In experiments reported in 1958 and 1959, volunteers ate a diet without pantothenic acid and took an antagonist. They developed headache, fatigue and numb, burning hands and feet.

A double-blind trial of pantethine for cholesterol was reported in 1984, and North American trials followed in 2011 and 2014. In 2021, a trial of a pantothenate-pathway drug in PKAN found no benefit.

Frequently asked questions about vitamin B5

Is vitamin B5 good for acne?

The evidence is thin. One 12-week placebo-controlled trial in 48 adults with mild to moderate acne found fewer facial lesions on a pantothenic acid-based supplement. But the product’s marketer sponsored it, and we found no second trial. The EU has authorized no pantothenic acid claim for acne or skin. Ask a doctor or dermatologist about proven acne treatments.

What happens if you take too much vitamin B5?

Nothing serious is known. The US and the EU have set no upper level, and the NIH reports mild diarrhea and stomach upset at about 10 g a day. The Scientific Committee on Food puts occasional diarrhea and water retention at 10 to 20 g a day. In a 120-person trial, 600 to 900 mg a day of pantethine for 16 weeks was reported as safe.

Is vitamin B5 good for skin and hair?

Creams with dexpanthenol, the alcohol form, have some trial support. Laser-treated skin closed faster than with petroleum jelly in 38 people, and a cream sped up barrier repair after irritation. Swallowed pantothenic acid has little proof for skin or hair. The hair-loss trial had no placebo group, and the acne trial was sponsored. The wound trial of pantothenic acid with vitamin C showed no major improvement. The EU list has no claim for skin or hair.

Which foods are highest in vitamin B5?

Chicken breast leads our USDA ranking per serving, with 1.69 mg in 4 oz (34% of the Daily Value). Peanuts lead per 100 g with 1.77 mg. Per serving, wild salmon, avocado and a chicken drumstick come next; by weight, salmon, eggs and white mushrooms follow peanuts. The NIH lists boiled beef liver at 8.3 mg in 3 oz, which is not in our ranking. Fortified cereals can supply 5 mg per serving.

Does vitamin B5 lower cholesterol?

Pantethine does modestly, but pantothenic acid itself does not appear to, according to the NIH. In 120 people on a healthy diet, 600 to 900 mg a day of pantethine for 16 weeks cut LDL cholesterol more than placebo. The extra drop was 4 mg/dL (4%). A 32-person trial funded by a pantethine maker found an 11% drop from baseline. Talk to a doctor before using it in place of cholesterol treatment.

Does vitamin B5 interfere with biotin?

Both use the same carrier, and in human colon cells pantothenic acid competed with biotin. In human white blood cells, though, pantothenic acid at normal concentrations cut biotin uptake by less than 12%, and the authors called the effect minor. We found no human study showing that pantothenic acid pills lower biotin status.

What is the difference between pantothenic acid, pantethine and panthenol?

Pantothenic acid is the vitamin, and calcium pantothenate is the stable salt used in most supplements. Pantethine is a dimer of pantetheine, a coenzyme A building block, and it is the form tested for cholesterol. Panthenol, or dexpanthenol, is the alcohol form that the body oxidizes to pantothenic acid, and it is used in creams. The NIH says no study has compared how well the body absorbs these forms.

Does vitamin B5 help with stress or tiredness?

The EU allows the wording “contributes to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue” on foods that are at least a source of pantothenic acid. That describes a normal role, not a treatment. The trials we found in people who were not deficient tested exercise performance, not fatigue complaints, and found no gain. They gave 1.5 g a day with cysteine for a week to 8 men, and a mixture with allithiamin to 6 cyclists. The EU list has no claim for stress or adrenal function.