Little is known regarding the amount of dietary vitamin B5 required to promote optimal health or prevent chronic disease.

 

As there are only limited data on the vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) requirements the European Scientific Committee for Food has not established a recommended intake. Average intakes in adults are about 4–7 mg/day, with a range of 3–12 mg/day. Such intakes were considered adequate to prevent deficiency, including during pregnancy and breast-feeding (11).

 

As the U.S. Food and Nutrition Board felt the existing scientific evidence was insufficient to calculate a RDA for vitamin B5, they set an adequate intake level (AI) for pantothenic acid in 1998, based on estimated dietary intakes in healthy population groups (12): 

 

Life Stage	Age	Males: (mg/day)	Females: (mg/day)
Infants	0–6 months	1.7	1.7
Infants	7–12 months	1.8	1.8
Children	1–3 years	2	2
Children	4–8 years	3	3
Children	9–13 years	4	4
Adolescents	14–18 years	5	5
Adults	19 years and older	5	5
Pregnancy	all ages	-	6
Breast-feeding	all ages	-	7

For a detailed overview of recommended daily intakes (PRIs/RDAs) of vitamins and minerals for adults derived from different countries and organizations see PDF.