Human Nutrition 3(3+0)

Lesson 28 : Pantothenic Acid

Effects of deficiency

• Effects of deficiency in animals
  Pantothenic acid deficiency has been produced in different species of experimental animals by feeding on pantothenic acid deficient diets. The important effects observed are
1. Growth failure,
2. Dermatitis,
3. Diarrhoea,
4. Greying of hair(Achromotrichia),
5. Nasal discharge of porphyrins,
6. Adrenal necrosis,
7. Neurological lesions,
8. Fatty liver and
9. Reproductive failure.


• Pantothenic Acid Deficiency in Human Subjects
  Pantothenic acid deficiency was developed in human volunteers by feeding on a pantothenic acid deficient diet and by administering the pantothenic acid antagonist, ?-methyl pantothenic acid. Fatigue, malaise, headache, loss of sleep, nausea, abdominal cramps, epigastric distress, vomiting and increase in flatus occurs in most of the subjects. The subjects may also develop parasthesias in the extremities, muscle, cramps and impaired coordination.