NUTRIENT LIBRARY

Nutrient Library - Pantothenic Acid

Pantothenic Acid

What does it do?
How much do you need?
What are the best food sources?
What happens if you don’t get enough?
What happens if you get too much?
What are some recipes that are good sources of pantothenic acid?
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What does it do?

Pantothenic acid is a water-soluble B vitamin needed to break down nutrients in our food into energy our cells can use. This vitamin also plays a role in making various hormones and cholesterol.

How much do you need?

The following table lists the recommended intake for healthy people based on current scientific information.

Life Stage Group	Recommended Dietary Allowance / Adequate Intake (see note below)	Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL)
Infants	(milligrams/day)
0-6 mo. 7-12 mo.	1.7* 1.8*	Not determinable due to lack of data on adverse effects and concern about inability to handle excess amounts. Source should be from food only to prevent high levels of intake.
Children
1-3 yr. 4-8 yr.	2* 3*
Males
9-13 yr. 14-18 yr. 19-30 yr. 31-50 yr. 51-70 yr. > 70 yr.	4* 5* 5* 5* 5* 5*
Females
9-13 yr. 14-18 yr. 19-30 yr. 31-50 yr. 51-70 yr. > 70 yr.	4* 5* 5* 5* 5* 5*
Pregnancy
< 18 yr. 19-30 yr. 31-50 yr.	6* 6* 6*
Lactation
< 18 yr. 19-30 yr. 31-50 yr.	7* 7* 7*

NOTE: The table is adapted from the Dietary Reference Intakes reports. Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs), when available, are in bold type; Adequate Intakes (AIs) are followed by an asterisk(*). RDAs and AIs may both be used as goals for individual intake. RDAs are set to meet the needs of almost all individuals (97 to 98 percent) in a group. For healthy breastfed infants, the AI is the mean intake. The AI for other life stage and gender groups is believed to cover the needs of all individuals in the group, but lack of data means the percentage of individuals covered by this intake cannot be specified with confidence.
UL = The maximum level of daily nutrient intake that is likely to pose no risk of adverse effects. Unless otherwise specified, the UL represents total intake from food, water and supplements.

What are the best food sources?

Major food sources of pantothenic acid include poultry, beef, fish, whole grains, legumes, broccoli and yogurt. Some food-processing techniques, such as refining whole grains and freezing and canning vegetables, meat and dairy products, can reportedly lower pantothenic acid content by 35 to 75 percent. See more food sources and calculate your daily intake.

What happens if you don’t get enough?

Pantothenic acid deficiency is rare—so rare, in fact, that it has been observed only in World War II prisoners who consumed grossly inadequate diets and in research subjects in whom it was artificially induced. In those cases, signs and symptoms included irritability, fatigue, apathy, numbness and tingling of the extremities, muscle cramps, nausea and vomiting.

What happens if you get too much?

High intakes of pantothenic acid have not been shown to cause harm. However, studies have not specifically looked at harmful effects of excess pantothenic acid, so stay within the range of recommended intakes.