vitamin · for acne
Vitamin B5
Involved in how your body handles fats, which is the basis for the claim it reduces oil.
Say that in clinical terms
Coenzyme A drives lipid metabolism, reducing sebum production and sebaceous gland hyperactivity in acne vulgaris.
How strong is the research?
1 paper read, 1 supporting.
Tested as: Pantothen™ (Avilan Marketing LLC) at 2.2 g pantothenic acid per day
Who was studied: 100 patients aged 10 to 30 at a Hong Kong skin clinic.
How much to take
daily
1000–2500 mg
High doses required for acne (exceeds typical B-complex amounts). Divide into 2-3 doses.
Before you take it
- NIH ODS has not established a Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for pantothenic acid; the Food and Nutrition Board found no reports of adverse effects in humans at high intakes sufficient to set a UL.
- No clinically relevant interactions with medications are known (NIH ODS).
- GI distress (primarily diarrhea) has been reported at very high intake levels, typically around 10 g/day; well tolerated in short-term trials at lower supplemental doses.
- Very high doses of pantothenic acid may theoretically compete with biotin for intestinal absorption; clinical significance at moderate supplemental doses is not established.
- The Leung 1995 hypothesis paper describes a 10 g/day dosing protocol — the dose level at which GI adverse effects have been documented; the recommended 1,000–2,500 mg/day range here is substantially lower but large-scale long-term human safety data at these doses are absent.
When to take it
Best taken: morning
What we make of it
Published in a journal that exists specifically for untested ideas.
The detail
The main citation appeared in Medical Hypotheses, a journal that explicitly publishes speculative ideas without requiring evidence for them. That is a starting point for research, not a result.