Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid)

What is Pantothenic Acid?

Vitamin B5, or pantothenic acid, is a water-soluble B vitamin involved in some of your body’s most crucial operations, like converting carbs, fats, and proteins into energy (5). It forms part of coenzyme A (CoA), which helps with energy production, hormone synthesis, and fatty acid breakdown (1).

The name comes from the Greek word panthos, meaning ‘everywhere’, because B5 is found in nearly all foods (6). But here's the kicker: it's also easily destroyed by processing and heat, which isn't great news if your hiking meals come freeze-dried and flame-cooked.

Why Do Outdoor Adventurers Need It?

Whether you’re slogging up switchbacks or hauling your gear across an alpine ridgeline, your energy demands are typically elevated when you’re on an adventure. B5 helps you:

• Convert food into energy more efficiently (2,5)
• Improves concentration and mental alertness (3)
• Synthesise cortisol and other stress hormones (3)
• Maintain nerve health and reduce fatigue (3)
• Recover faster from physical exertion (2)
  
  

Some (admittedly early, and mostly using animals) research suggests that pantothenic acid supports adrenal function, aka your body’s stress-response system (3). When you’re pushing yourself physically and mentally, a robust adrenal system isn’t a luxury – it’s survival gear.

Dietary Sources of Pantothenic Acid

Vitamin B5 is fairly widespread in food, as long as it’s fresh and unprocessed. It can be found in:

• Vegetables
• Chicken
• Egg yolks
• Legumes
• Avocados
• Whole grains (though much is lost in milling)

Cooking, processing, and storage can destroy up to 50–75% of its B5 content (7,8). So, unless your trail meals are fresh from a permaculture farm (unlikely), a top-up is wise.

What Happens If You Don’t Get Enough?

Severe deficiency is rare, but low or borderline levels can show up as:

• Fatigue (2)
• Impaired muscle coordination (2)
• Irritability and headaches (2)
• Sleep disturbances
• “Burning feet” or tingling sensations (4)

If we’re honest with ourselves, those symptoms sound a lot like day four on the trail.

With food processing and dehydration stripping out much of the naturally occurring B5, hikers and adventurers can be especially vulnerable to running low. A bit of targeted supplementation goes a long way.

What’s the Best Form of B5 for Hikers?

Calcium pantothenate is a stable, absorbable, and widely used form of supplemental B5 (9), and it’s the one we’ve chosen for Optiventure. Specifically, we’ve included 7.5mg of active D-Calcium Pantothenate USP.

That’s over 125% of the recommended adequate intake (1,9). It’s a performance-friendly dose that supports energy production, nervous system health, and resilience to physical stress. This is enough to replenish losses, support higher demands, and plug any gaps from a less-than-gourmet trail diet.

What’s the Best Form of Pantothenic Acid for Hikers?

The most stable and bioavailable form of B5 in supplements is D-calcium pantothenate (5). It’s less likely to degrade during manufacturing, transport, or storage, making it ideal for adventure use.

That’s exactly what we’ve used in Optiventure: 7.5mg of active D-Calcium Pantothenate USP.

Key Facts About Pantothenic Acid

Why Optiventure Has 7.5mg of D-Calcium Pantothenate

We’ve included 7.5 mg of D-Calcium Pantothenate to provide 7.5 mg of active pantothenic acid (vitamin B5).

• Over 125% of the Adequate Intake (AI) for men and 188% for women (1)
• A buffer against losses from cooking and storage
• Support for high-output physical performance, energy, and recovery (5)
• A reliable source for people eating limited or repetitive trail foods

It’s not a megadose. It’s a trail-smart dose, designed to keep up with the demands of hiking, backpacking, climbing, and other high-effort outdoor adventures. If the numbers seem big, they’re not. You’d need to take 10g/day before seeing adverse effects (like mild diarrhea) from taking too much (2). This is nowhere near that, on purpose. 

References

1. National Health and Medical Research Council. (n.d.). Nutrient reference values for Australia and New Zealand: Pantothenic acid.https://www.nrv.gov.au/nutrients/pantothenic-acid
2. Sanvictores, T., & Chauhan, S. (2024, February 29). Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid). In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK563233/
3. EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA). (2010). Scientific opinion on the substantiation of health claims related to pantothenic acid and mental performance (ID 58), reduction of tiredness and fatigue (ID 63), adrenal function (ID 204) and maintenance of normal skin (ID 2878) pursuant to Article 13(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. EFSA Journal, 8(10), 1758.https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2010.1758
4. Takahashi, S., Shibata, K., Fukuwatari, T., Sasaki, R., & Sugimoto, E. (2001). Effects of pantothenic acid deficiency induced by ω-methylpantothenic acid administration on humans. Biological & Pharmaceutical Bulletin, 24(3), 313–317. https://doi.org/10.1248/bpb.24.313
5. Hrubša, M., et al. (2022). Biological properties of vitamins of the B-complex, part 1: Vitamins B1, B2, B3, and B5. Nutrients, 14(3), 484. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14030484
6. Williams, R. J., Lyman, C. M., Goodyear, G. H., Truesdail, J. H., & Holaday, D. (1933). “Pantothenic acid,” a growth determinant of universal biological occurrence. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 55(12), 2912–2927. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja01336a037
7. Garg, M., Sharma, A., Vats, S., Tiwari, V., Kumari, A., Mishra, V., & Krishania, M. (2021). Vitamins in cereals: A critical review of content, health effects, processing losses, bioaccessibility, fortification, and biofortification strategies for their improvement. Frontiers in Nutrition, 8, 586815. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2021.586815
8. Schroeder, H. A. (1971). Losses of vitamins and trace minerals resulting from processing and preservation of foods. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 24(5), 562–573. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/24.5.562
9. Office of Dietary Supplements. (2021, March 22). Pantothenic acid (Vitamin B₅): Fact sheet for consumers. National Institutes of Health. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/PantothenicAcid-Consumer/