The Healthspan Map · Nutrient

Pantothenic acid (B5)

Compiled by Aamir Malik, PhD, Professor of Neuroengineering at Brno University of Technology, from published studies. He is a researcher, not a physician. Last updated 21 August 2026.

Linked to getting too little

Where a shortfall of Pantothenic acid (B5) is linked: 4 sources.In the order the Map holds them: strongest evidence first. That is a statement about the evidence, not about what matters most.
Condition or system	Direction	Strength	Evidence type	What was found	Source
Anxiety	Eat enough of	Emerging	RCT / meta-analysis	B-group vitamins aid anxiety regulation; B5 is a precursor of coenzyme A in adrenal steroid synthesis.	Young et al. 2019; adrenal CoA synthesis (opens in a new tab)
Chronic fatigue / low energy	Eat enough of	Emerging	Review / narrative	B5 (coenzyme A) is required for energy-yielding metabolism.	Micronutrients for energy/fatigue review (Tardy 2020) (opens in a new tab)
Headache & migraine	Eat enough of	Emerging	Established clinical	Headache is a reported symptom of deficiency.	NIH ODS – Pantothenic acid (opens in a new tab)
Stress	Eat enough of	Emerging	RCT / trial	Pantothenic acid supports adrenal cortisol synthesis; part of the B-complex shown to lower psychological stress.	High-dose B-multivitamin stress RCT (Ford et al.) (opens in a new tab)

Linked to getting too much

Where an excess of Pantothenic acid (B5) is linked: 1 source.In the order the Map holds them: strongest evidence first. That is a statement about the evidence, not about what matters most.
Condition or system	Direction	Strength	Evidence type	What was found	Source
Digestive discomfort	Don't overdo	Emerging	Established clinical	Large doses of pantothenic acid (~10 g/day) can cause mild diarrhoea and GI distress.	Pantothenic acid high-dose GI (opens in a new tab)

The Healthspan Map is part of Fix the Floor, a book by Aamir Malik. About the book