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0:00
Hello. My name's Susan
Fairweather-Tait.
I'm a professor of
human nutrition in
the Norwich Medical School at
the University of East
Anglia in the UK.
I'm going to be talking
about pantothenic acid,
which is one of the B vitamins,
sometimes called vitamin B5.
0:19
Pantothenic acid is essential
for a large number of
metabolic reactions in the body
because it's a component
of coenzyme A,
which is involved in diverse
cellular activities,
and a component of
acyl carrier protein,
which is needed for
fatty acid synthesis.
As its role with coenzyme A,
it is involved with
energy production,
fatty acid metabolism,
lipid metabolism,
amino acid metabolism,
and ketone bodies production.
In summary, pantothenic
acid helps our bodies
convert nutrients into energy
and to make and break down fats.
0:57
Pantothenic acid is present
in a wide variety of foods.
Mostly, it's found
as coenzyme A,
and foods which are
particularly rich in
pantothenic acid include meat,
eggs, nuts, avocados,
cruciferous vegetables,
and fortified breakfast cereals,
to which it is sometimes added.
1:17
The absorption of
pantothenic acid
occurs in the jejunum,
the upper small intestine,
and it's via a saturable
sodium-dependent
carrier-mediated process.
There is also passive diffusion,
which takes place throughout
the whole of the
small intestine.
Overall, the mean absorption
from the diet is about 50%.
Intestinal microbiota
produce pantothenic acid,
but the quantity absorbed in
the large intestine is unknown.
