Pantothenic acid status

Eissenstat BR, Wyse BW, and Hansen RG (1986) Pantothenic acid status of adolescents. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 44, 931-7. 

There are no convenient or reliable functional tests of pantothenic acid status, thus assessment is made by direct measurement of whole blood or urine pantothenic acid concentrations. Urine measurements are perhaps the easiest to conduct and interpret, and concentrations are closely related to dietary intake, Whole blood measurements are preferred to plasma, which contains only free pantothenic acid and is insensitive to changes in pantothenic acid intake. Concentrations of pantothenic acid in aU of the above fluids can be measured by microbiological assay, most commonly using Lactobacillus plantarum. Whole blood must first be treated with an enzyme preparation to release pantothenic acid fi om CoA. Other techniques that have been used to measure pantothenic acid in human samples include radioimmunoassay and gas chromatography, Other techniques that have been developed include gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and a stable isotope dilution assay. CoA and AGP can be measured by enzymatic methods. ... 

Pantothenic acid is measured in the blood, urine and food. Determination of blood and urinary pantothenic acid contents can be a biomarker for the evaluation of pantothenic acid status. Measurement of pantothenic acid in as many foodstuffs as possible gives important information for determining pantothenic acid status. For example, the Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan 2010 records pantothenic acid contents for 1878 foodstuffs (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology 2010). The pantothenic acid content of a number of foodstuffs is shown in Table 20.1. 

JV Kathman, C Kies. Pantothenic acid status of free living adolescent and young adults. Nutr Res 4 245-250, 1984. 

Urinary excretion of pantothenic acid mirrors intake, albeit with wide range of individual variation, and may provide a means of assessing status. Urinary excretion of less than 1 mg (4.5 /xmol) of pantothenic acid per 24 hours is considered to be abnormally low (Sauberlich et al., 1974). 

There are no functional tests of pantothenic acid nutritional status that are generally applicable. Deficiency of pantothenic acid impairs the ability to acetylate a variety of drugs, such as p-aminobenzoic acid, but this has not been developed as an index of vitamin status. The capacity to acetylate drugs is genetically determined neither experimental pantothenate deficiency nor the administration of supplements affects the determination of fast or slow acetylator status (Pietrzik et al., 1975 Vas et al., 1990). 

Plasma and urinary levels of pantothenic acid have been measured in dietary surveys as well as in controlled studies of the vitamin deficiency. One fairly recent study with human subjects involved the feeding of a pantothenic acid-free diet for 9 weeks. The urinary pantothenic acid levels (4-6 mg/day) in vitamin-sufficient subjects were roughly half that of the intake (10 mg/day). With consumption of the vitamin-free diet, urinary pantothenic acid levels gradually declined to about 0.8 mg/day over the 9-week period (Fry et ai., 1976). Both urinary and blood serum levels of pantothenate have been used to assess dietary status. Values from urinary measurements seem to be somewhat better correlated with intake of this vitamin, than blood measurements data (Berg, 1997). 

Other investigators have suggested that dietary requirements can be influenced by the endocrine status of the experimental animal. Lotspeich s (1950) experiment indicating that the pantothenic acid requirement of the adult rat can be increased by the injection of growth hormone has already been cited. Lewis and Everson (1952) have presented data on the increase in pantothenate and biotin requirements of female rats during pregnancy. 

The criteria for the diagnosis of vitamin deficiency are specific for every single vitamin. However, some common rules can be applied to most of the B vitamins. First, it has to be stated that, in clinical practice, some vitamins (biotin, pantothenic acid, niacin) are hardly ever measured and therefore data on vitamin status are hardly available. Other vitamins like folate and cobalamin are measured regularly using commercial assays. 

Srinivasan, V., Christensen, N., Wyse, B.W., and Hansen, R.G., 1981. Pantothenic acid nutritional status in the elderly-institutionalized and -noninstitutionalized. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 34 1736-1742. 

The body s need for most vitamins is relatively low. The amounts needed to ensure the normal physiological function of humans is dependent on many factors such as age, sex, health status, lifestyle, eating habits and work-related activity. Many countries have recommendations for the daily intake of vitamins, which are continually revised in accordance with contemporary scientihc knowledge and dietary guidelines. Presently, Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) are set in the EU (upper number) and United States (lower number) as follows vitamin A (800/900 xg), vitamin D (5/15 xg), vitamin E (12/15 mg), vitamin K (75/120 xg), thiamine (1.1/1.2 mg), riboflavin (1.4/1.3 mg), niacin (16/16 mg), pantothenic acid (6/5 mg), vitamin Bg (1.4/1.3 mg), biotin (50/30 xg), folacin (200/400 (xg), vitamin Bj2 (2.5/2.4 xg) and vitamin C (80/90 mg). 

Water soluble vitamins are generally not stored in the body, or are stored only for a limited time and the excess is excreted in the urine. Lipophilic vitamins are stored mainly in the Hver. The reserve capacity, defined as the time during which the need for the vitamin is covered by the organism reserves, is the longest for corrinoids (3-5 years) and vitamin A (1-2 years). The reserve capacity for folacin is 3-4 months, for vitamins C, D, E and K, riboflavin, pyridoxine and niacin it is 2-6 weeks, and for thiamine, pantothenic acid and biotin it is only 4-10 days. Reserve capacity is affected by the history of vitamin intake, the metabolic need for the vitamin and the health status of the individual. 

There are few studies in communities where intakes are likely to be low indeed, pantothenic acid is so widely distributed in human foods that it is imlikely that any natural diets with a very low content will be encountered. Some variations in status among communities have been described, but these do not define requirements. In a group of adolescents in the USA, daily pantothenate intakes were around... 

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