Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid)
Vitamins
It enters coenzyme A, without which almost no energy reaction takes place.
Its name comes from the Greek pantothen, “from everywhere”: it is in just about everything, and a deficiency is extremely rare.
Effects and benefits
It is part of coenzyme A, without which almost no energy reaction takes place. It also contributes to making steroid hormones, vitamin D and some neurotransmitters, and to normal mental performance.
Coenzyme A, discovered by Fritz Lipmann, Nobel Prize 1953, carries carbon fragments from one reaction to the next: it brings sugars and fats into the cycle that produces energy, and is used to make cholesterol, then the hormones derived from it.
It contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism, to normal synthesis and metabolism of steroid hormones, vitamin D and some neurotransmitters, to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue and to normal mental performance (Regulation 432/2012).
EFSA sets the adequate intake at 5 mg a day for an adult, and 7 during breastfeeding (EFSA, 2014).
Sources: Lipmann, 1945 · EU Regulation 432/2012 · EFSA, 2014
Where to find it (15)
- African rice
- Avocado
- Black chickpea
- Black rice
- Broccoli
- Brown rice
- Button mushroom
- Chickpeas
- Green / brown lentil
- Nutritional yeast
- Oats
- Red rice
- Shiitake
- Sunflower seeds
- Sweet potato