We tend to group all the B vitamins together, but each one has several different roles in the body. Discover why everybody needs vitamin B5.
Like the seven other B vitamins, B5 – also known as pantothenic acid – helps your body convert the carbohydrates you eat into glucose for energy.
B vitamins help your body process fats and proteins, and are needed to help keep your nervous system, skin, hair, eyes and liver in a healthy condition too.1 But there are some specific benefits of vitamin B5 that you should be aware of.Handpicked content: The best essential oils for beautiful skin and hair
• making red blood cells
• synthesising cholesterol
• producing sex and stress hormones
• helping the body use other vitamins, especially vitamin B2
• maintaining a healthy digestive system
Handpicked content: What is digestion?
Our body needs vitamin B5 to metabolise cholesterol, but B5 could also help lower levels of LDL, or ‘bad’, cholesterol in the blood.
One Canadian-led study published in the journal Vascular Health and Risk Management in 2014 found that when people with high levels of LDL cholesterol were given 300mg of vitamin B5 every day over 16 weeks, their levels dropped significantly.3Handpicked content: 5 foods to help lower cholesterol
Handpicked content: 6 ways to clear your acne
Handpicked content: Can you keep grey hairs at bay?
1. University of Maryland Medical Center. Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid). Available from: https://www.umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/vitamin-b5-pantothenic-acid
2. Medical News Today. Vitamin B5: Everything you need to know. Available from: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/219601.php
3. Evans M, et al. Pantethine, a derivative of vitamin B5, favorably alters total, LDL and non-HDL cholesterol in low to moderate cardiovascular risk subjects eligible for statin therapy: a triple-blinded placebo and diet-controlled investigation. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24600231
4. Yang M, et al. A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of a Novel Pantothenic Acid-Based Dietary Supplement in Subjects with Mild to Moderate Facial Acne. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4065280/
5. Kuo YM, Hayflick SJ, Gitshier J. Deprivation of pantothenic acid elicits a movement disorder and azoospermia in a mouse model of pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17429753
6. See source 2.
7. NHS Choices. B vitamins and folic acid. Available from: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-b/#pantothenic-acid