Pantothenic Acid (B5) AI Table
| Life stage | AI (mg/day) |
|---|---|
| Infant 0–6 mo | 1.7 |
| Infant 7–12 mo | 1.8 |
| 1–3 years | 2 |
| 4–8 years | 3 |
| 9–13 years | 4 |
| 14–18 years | 5 |
| 19+ years | 5 |
| Pregnancy | 6 |
| Lactation | 7 |
| Upper limit | none has been set |
| Food | Portion | mg | %DV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shiitake mushrooms, cooked | 1/2 cup | 2.6 | 52% |
| Sunflower seeds | 1 oz | 2.0 | 40% |
| Chicken breast, roasted | 3 oz | 0.98 | 20% |
| Egg, hard-boiled | 1 large | 0.7 | 14% |
| Fortified breakfast cereal | 1 serving | 0.6 | 12% |
| Avocado, raw | 1/2 | 0.5 | 10% |
| Lentils, cooked | 1/2 cup | 0.4 | 8% |
| Brown rice, cooked | 1/2 cup | 0.3 | 6% |
| Yogurt, plain | 8 oz | 0.3 | 6% |
Pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) got its name honestly: 'pantothen' is Greek for 'from everywhere', because the vitamin is in essentially every food group - mushrooms carry half a day's requirement in half a cup, sunflower seeds 40% per ounce, and chicken, eggs, yogurt, avocados, potatoes, broccoli and whole grains all chip in. Deficiency in a free-living human eating any varied diet has never been convincingly documented; clinicians induced the only reliable cases on purpose.
Those induced cases are the history row: in World War II, starved American and British prisoners in the Philippines developed 'burning feet syndrome' - numbness, tingling and a scalding pain that other B-vitamin fixes didn't touch - and trials in the 1950s reproduced the syndrome deliberately in volunteers fed B5-free diets alongside a metabolic antagonist, curing it with pantothenic acid alone. That is the entire known deficiency picture for a vitamin the body weaves into coenzyme A, the molecule that ferries fats and carbohydrates into energy metabolism.
The supplement aisle sells B5 for 'stress and adrenal support', a claim with no human trial support (it descends from rat adrenal-gland studies), and for acne, where a single small trial produced decades of marketing. The honest ceiling: no UL has been set because toxicity is essentially unknown, but multi-gram doses - far beyond any food - reliably cause diarrhea, which functions as the practical limit.
How to use
- Find your row: 5 mg for every adult 19+, teen 14-18, and pregnancy (5); 6 in pregnancy per the AI table (teens 5, adults 6) and 7 while breastfeeding; children scale from 2 mg (ages 1-3) to 4 (9-13); infants 1.7-1.8 as AIs.
- Cover it by accident, like almost everyone: a cup of rice or a bowl of fortified cereal (0.3-0.6 mg), an egg or a serving of chicken (0.5-1.0), mushrooms or sunflower seeds as snacks (2.0-2.6 per portion) - the average American eats 4-5 mg a day from ordinary meals without any intention.
- Read the label rather than the marketing: 'adrenal support' formulas are the modern face of the claim trials never supported, and high-dose B5 powder beyond a few grams a day has one documented consequence - diarrhea - which is why the bottle, not the biology, sets the real limit.
Frequently asked questions
How much pantothenic acid (B5) do I need per day?
The NIH Adequate Intake is 5 mg a day for all adults 19+ and teens 14-18; pregnancy needs 6 and breastfeeding 7; children scale 2-4 mg; infants 1.7-1.8. The Daily Value on labels is 5 mg. There is no RDA (the data was never strong enough) and no UL (toxicity is essentially unknown) - the only practical limit is that multi-gram supplement doses cause diarrhea.
What foods are highest in pantothenic acid?
The standouts: shiitake mushrooms about 2.6 mg per half cup (52% DV), sunflower seeds 2 mg per ounce (40%), and then the everywhere-shelf - chicken breast 0.98 mg per 3 ounces (20%), beef liver, eggs 0.7 each, fortified cereal 0.6 per serving, avocado 0.5 per half, lentils, yogurt, sweet potato, broccoli and mushrooms in ordinary amounts. Name any food group and it carries B5; the name means 'from everywhere' for a reason. Only heavily refined foods lose most of theirs.
Is vitamin B5 deficiency real?
Practically never - and that is a documented fact, not a reassurance. The only reproducible deficiency came from deliberate experiments: WWII prisoners of war on starvation rations developed burning feet syndrome (numb, scalding, painful feet), and 1950s volunteers fed B5-free diets with an antagonist reproduced the syndrome - numbness, burning, headache, fatigue - then reversed it with pantothenic acid alone. Free-living deficiency requires near-total starvation, because the vitamin is in every food group.
Does vitamin B5 help with stress or adrenal fatigue?
No human trial supports it. The 'adrenal support' marketing traces to mid-century rat studies where B5 deficiency damaged adrenal glands, extended to 'anti-stress' claims that never survived testing in people; 'adrenal fatigue' itself is not a recognized diagnosis. The other popular claim - high-dose B5 for acne - rests on one small 1990s trial and decades of repetition. Food-level B5 does its real work silently, inside coenzyme A, in every cell's energy metabolism.
Can you take too much pantothenic acid?
No UL exists because no toxicity syndrome has been documented - but the label enforces its own limit: supplement doses in the multi-gram range (10+ g have been studied) reliably cause diarrhea and GI upset, which is why high-dose B5 products self-limit. Ordinary food, and even standard 10-100 mg supplements, carry no meaningful risk. The megadose reflex from other vitamins does not transfer here; there is nothing extra to gain and a stomach to lose.