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What Benefits Vitamin B5 (or Pantothenic Acid) Have For Your Health

 

Role of Vitamin B5

Vitamin B5, which is also known as pantothenic acid, is utilized by the body in a variety of ways. It is a member of the vitamin family known as the B complex. This vital group of vitamins plays a part in nearly every major body system and process. The Vitamin B complex helps to maintain body and mental health in various ways, and has special importance to women.

The same as all of the other vitamins that form the B complex, vitamin B5 is essential to the body’s ability to use the food you consume. B5 is involved in the "routine maintenance and repair" of all body tissues, from the cellular level upwards. This makes B5 an essential part of the body’s efforts to fight the physical damage that, for example, excessive stress contributes to.

Vitamin B5 serves many important functions in the nervous system too, especially in terms of nerve function and health. Vitamin B5 has an important part to play in the production of neurotransmitters, which are themselves critical to the ability of the nerves to communicate.

Vitamin B5 is used frequently in a variety of cosmetic products, due to its important role in the growth and health of the hair, and its necessity to healthy skin. Vitamin B5, acting as a cofactor with other members of the Vitamin B complex and other nutrients, has an important role also in the functioning of the adrenal glands. Finally, B5also serves to promote normal growth, due to its role in hormone production throughout the body.

Conditions Caused By Vitamin B5 Deficiency 

Vitamin B5 deficiency can have a variety of negative consequences for not only the body, but also the mind. Physical symptoms include abdominal pain, nausea, fatigue, headache, muscle weakness and cramps, vomiting, dizziness, weakened immune system, neurological disorders, slow or retarded growth, increased insulin sensitivity, , digestive problems, and acne.

As for the possible mental symptoms of Vitamin B5 deficiency, these include sleep disturbances, personality disorders and change, depression, and insomnia. These mental symptoms generally make most other deficiency symptoms feel much worse than they might otherwise have been.

Normally, adults should have about 5mg of Vitamin B5 per day However, during pregnancy and while breastfeeding, women should increase their daily intake to 6mg to 7mg. Children, depending on size and weight, should have about 2mg to 4mg of Vitamin B5 every day. 

The importance of the Vitamin B complex to physical health and mental functioning cannot be overstated. For optimum performance of the body and the mind, including cognitive functions and emotional responses and stability, the standard recommended daily intake levels of these vitamins should be achieved every day. Because these are water-soluble vitamins, they are washed away daily with the urine, and thus the body’s supply of these essential nutrients has to be renewed daily.

Nutritional supplements, if not abused, should be a reliable and safe way to meet these important nutritional goals, provided that attention is given to the accepted limits of dosage. Remember, though, too much of any nutrient can be toxic, and can sometimes cause as much damage as having too little. The body is a delicately balanced system; it therefore requires that balance to be maintained to function at its best.

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