Vitamin B5 Sources: Food Sources & Supplements

Vitamins >> Vitamin B5 Sources

Food sources

Pantothenic acid is available in a variety of foods. Rich sources of pantothenic acid include liver and kidney, yeast, egg yolk, and broccoli. Fish, shellfish, chicken, milk, yogurt, legumes, mushrooms, avocado, and sweet potatoes are also good sources. Whole grains are good sources of pantothenic acid, but processing and refining grains may result in a 35% to 75% loss. Freezing and canning of foods have been found to result in similar losses. Large national nutritional surveys were unable to estimate pantothenic acid intake due to the scarcity of data on the pantothenic acid content of food. Smaller studies estimate average daily intakes of pantothenic acid to be from 5 to 6 mg/day in adults. The table below lists some rich sources of pantothenic acid along with their content in milligrams (mg).

Food	Serving	Pantothenic Acid (mg)
Fish, cod (cooked)	3 ounces	0.15
Tuna (canned)	3 ounces	0.18
Chicken, cooked	3 ounces	0.98
Egg (cooked)	1 large	0.61
Milk	1 cup (8 ounces)	0.79
Yogurt	8 ounces	1.35
Broccoli (steamed)	1/2 cup (chopped)	0.40
Lentils (cooked)	1/2 cup	0.64
Split peas (cooked)	1/2 cup	0.59
Avocado, California	1 whole	1.68
Sweet potato (cooked)	1 medium (1/2 cup)	0.74
Mushrooms (raw)	1/2 cup (chopped)	0.51
Lobster (cooked)	3 ounces	0.24
Bread, whole wheat	1 slice	0.16

Intestinal bacteria

The bacteria that normally colonize the colon (large intestine) are capable of making their own pantothenic acid. It is not yet known whether humans can absorb the pantothenic acid synthesized by their own intestinal bacteria in meaningful amounts. However, a specialized process for the uptake of biotin and pantothenic acid was recently identified in cultured cells derived from the lining of the colon, suggesting that humans may be able to absorb pantothenic acid and biotin produced by the bacteria normally present in the colon.

Supplements

Pantothenic acid: Supplements commonly contain pantothenol, a more stable alcohol derivative, which is rapidly converted by humans to pantothenic acid. Calcium and sodium D-pantothenate, the calcium and sodium salts of pantothenic acid are also available as supplements.

Pantethine: Although it is used as a cholesterol-lowering agent in Europe and Japan, pantethine is available in the U.S. as a dietary supplement.