Acne is one of the most common skin disease affecting millions of people across the globe irrespective of their gender, race or age.
This article will talk about one of the essential nutrient required by our body and widely available in various food sources, Vitamin B5 and its effectiveness in the treatment of acne breakouts.
About Vitamin B5
Also otherwise known as pantothenic acid, vitamin B5 is a water-soluble vitamin, widely found in plants and animals.
Its popular food sources include meat, vegetable, cereals, legumes, and milk.
It serves as an essential nutrient, facilitating the synthesis of coenzyme A (CoA). It also serves to facilitate protein, carbohydrate and fat synthesis.
Vitamin B5 has been known to help a lot of health conditions which include asthma, baldness, allergies, and ADHD.
It also helps with autism, yeast infection and heart failure. It is also known to enhance the immune function and be effective in curbing depression among other things.
There are many more medical conditions that are helped through vitamin B5.
However, most of these have been established on experience and there is a lack of rigid scientific evidence to prove the same.
How does Vitamin B5 treat acne?
Its main mechanism includes restricting the production of sebum/oil in the body by metabolizing the fat that later on turns into sebum.
Vitamin B5 helps in the creation of coenzyme A which facilitates the breaking down of fat in the body which would have otherwise have been secreted in form of fat from the oil glands.
This reduced production will further prevent the clogging of pores thereby starving the acne-causing bacteria.
Dosage:
The recommended dosage of vitamin B5 depends largely on the age and gender of the person. Here is the recommended dosage:
- Men and women: 14 years and above – 5 mg
- Pregnant women: 6 mg
- Breastfeeding women: 7 mg
How to include Vitamin B5 in diet
In case you do not want to rely on supplements and capsules for vitamin B5, there are certain food sources rich in the vitamin that you can include in your diet to increase the intake of vitamin B5:
- Yogurt
- Chicken
- Milk
- Lentils
- Eggs
- Broccoli
- Whole wheat bread
- Tuna
- Cod
Other Benefits
Apart from acting towards the health of the skin, there are certain health benefits that vitamin B5 procures.
Enumerated below are some of these benefits:
- It is often helpful in relieving stress by ensuring proper supply of stress hormone to the adrenal gland
- It heals the pain caused due to rheumatoid arthritis
- Vitamin B5 helps in lowering the bad cholesterol and increasing the good cholesterol. Therefore helping patients with high cholesterol levels as well as heart patients
Possible Side effects
Taking in high doses of vitamin B5 might have certain bad effects on the person. Some of these side effects have been enumerated below:
- An allergic reaction may include rash, hive, breathing issues and swelling in the mouth, tongue, and lips
- Large doses may cause diarrhea
- It has also sometimes resulted in nausea and heartburn
- In spite of the lack of rigid evidence, it is believed that it might increase the risk of bleeding
- Using it topically might increase risks of skin irritation and contact dermatitis
Precautions
In order to ensure maximum effectiveness of the treatment as well as to prevent any risks of side effects, you must observe certain precautions.
These precautions have been enumerated below:
- If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, do not exceed more than the recommended dosage
- Do not use it if you are suffering from hemophilia. It might increase the risk of bleeding
- You must inform the doctor of all prescriptive and non-prescriptive medicines and herbal supplements you are taking
- You must inform the doctor about any kinds of allergy that you may have
Drug interaction:
Vitamin B5 may also interact with certain drugs or other herbal supplements, in which case taking them together must be avoided:
- When taken along with dexpanthenol, it can increase the effects of cholinesterase inhibitor drugs which can lead to potential side effects.
- High doses may reduce the absorption of biotin in the large intestine.
How Effective is Vitamin B5 for Acne: Customer review
We did an analysis of online consumer reviews to determine the effectiveness of vitamin B5 in the treatment of acne vulgaris.
Based on the experience people have had while using this, here is a summary of what they liked and disliked about the product:
What they liked about it
Reduces oiliness: Most consumers were happy with the fact that it caused a significant reduction in the oiliness of their skin. This works as a major contributor to healing acne
Lasting effect: A lot of consumers were of the view that the effect that vitamin B5 had on their skin was not only for a short period but lasted for a few years even if they stopped using it. This was an added benefit to the treatment.
What they did not like about it
Stomach discomfort: Some consumers reported occurrences of minor discomfort in their stomach as they started using vitamin B5 orally. This, however, results either due to allergy or because of intake of high doses
Severe acne: A few people were of the view that vitamin B5 has not been effective in treating severe or deep acne. However, it is not an established fact and the effect might differ from person to person.
Summary
Vitamin B5 fights acne at its very root cause inhibiting the secretion of sebum.
It is considered beneficial for the bodily health in general and the side effects of using it are mostly negligible.
It has a long-lasting effect on your skin and the reduction in oiliness will also help towards it.
Furthermore, you do not necessarily have to take in supplementary pills but can just make it a part of your daily diet regime and see the difference. It is definitely worth a try.