[6] All animals need pantothenic acid in order to synthesize coenzyme A (CoA), which is essential for cellular energy production and for the synthesis and degradation of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.

[11] This pathway is suppressed by end-product inhibition, meaning that CoA is a competitive inhibitor of pantothenate kinase, the enzyme responsible for the first step.

This process is the body's primary catabolic pathway and is essential in breaking down the building blocks of the cell such as carbohydrates, amino acids and lipids, for fuel.

[17] The US Institute of Medicine (IOM) updated Estimated Average Requirements (EARs) and Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for B vitamins in 1998.

This was based in part on the observation that for a typical diet, urinary excretion was approximately 2.6 mg/day, and that bioavailability of food-bound pantothenic acid was roughly 50%.

[20] As for safety, the IOM sets Tolerable upper intake levels (ULs) for vitamins and minerals when evidence is sufficient.

[10] The EFSA also reviewed the safety question and reached the same conclusion as in the United States – that there was not sufficient evidence to set a UL for pantothenic acid.

[21] For US food and dietary supplement labeling purposes, the amount in a serving is expressed as a percent of Daily Value (%DV).

[7][6] According to WebMD, pantothenic acid supplements have a long list of claimed uses, but there is insufficient scientific evidence to support any of them.

[9] According to the Global Fortification Data Exchange, pantothenic acid deficiency is so rare that no countries require that foods be fortified.

[28] When found in foods, most pantothenic acid is in the form of CoA or bound to acyl carrier protein (ACP).

[29] Free pantothenic acid is absorbed into intestinal cells via a saturable, sodium-dependent active transport system.

[14] At high levels of intake, when this mechanism is saturated, some pantothenic acid may also be additionally absorbed via passive diffusion.

[14] Acetylcholine synthesis is also impaired; therefore, neurological symptoms can also appear in deficiency;[30] they include sensation of numbness in hands and feet, paresthesia and muscle cramps.

[30] In animals, symptoms include disorders of the nervous, gastrointestinal, and immune systems, reduced growth rate, decreased food intake, skin lesions and changes in hair coat, and alterations in lipid and carbohydrate metabolism.

[9] Calcium pantothenate and dexpanthenol (D-panthenol) are European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) approved additives to animal feed.

[32] Net microbial synthesis of pantothenic acid in the rumen of steer calves has been estimated to be 2.2 mg/kg of digestible organic matter consumed per day.

Supplementation of pantothenic acid at 5 to 10 times theoretical requirements did not improve growth performance of feedlot cattle.

[34] Synthesis of the vitamin is completed by resolution of the lactone using quinine, for example, followed by treatment with the calcium or sodium salt of β-alanine.

[26] The essential nature of pantothenic acid was discovered by Roger J. Williams in 1933 by showing it was required for the growth of yeast.

[9] In 1953, Fritz Lipmann shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for his discovery of co-enzyme A and its importance for intermediary metabolism", work he had published in 1946.