Question

I am a breastfeeding mother and i want to know if it is safe to use Vitamin B5? Is Vitamin B5 safe for nursing mother and child? Does Vitamin B5 extracts into breast milk? Does Vitamin B5 has any long term or short term side effects on infants? Can Vitamin B5 influence milk supply or can Vitamin B5 decrease milk supply in lactating mothers?

Vitamin B5 lactation summary

Vitamin B5 is safe in breastfeeding
  • DrLact safety Score for Vitamin B5 is 1 out of 8 which is considered Safe as per our analyses.
  • A safety Score of 1 indicates that usage of Vitamin B5 is mostly safe during lactation for breastfed baby.
  • Our study of different scientific research also indicates that Vitamin B5 does not cause any serious side effects in breastfeeding mothers.
  • Most of scientific studies and research papers declaring usage of Vitamin B5 safe in breastfeeding are based on normal dosage and may not hold true for higher dosage.
  • Score calculated using the DrLact safety Version 1.2 model, this score ranges from 0 to 8 and measures overall safety of drug in lactation. Scores are primarily calculated using publicly available case studies, research papers, other scientific journals and publically available data.

Answer by Dr. Ru: About Vitamin B5 usage in lactation

Pantothenic acid, dexpanthenol or vitamin B5 is widely distributed in nature being very abundant in meat, vegetables, cereals, legumes, eggs, milk, fruit and vegetables (MedlinePlus 2015), therefore its deficiency is very rare. The only recognized indication for administering pantothenic acid is to treat vitamin B5 deficiency. There is no evidence that it can be used to treat any other disease or condition. (MedlinePlus 2015). Daily requirements are 2 mg in infants, 4 in children, 5 in adults, 6 in pregnant women and 7 mg in breastfeeding mothers (Ares 2015, MedlinePLus 2015). Pantothenic acid is excreted in breast milk at a concentration of 2 to 2.7 mg/L (Sakurai 2005, Song 1984) with little variation throughout breastfeeding (Ren 2015, Johnston 1981) and is directly proportional to maternal ingestion (Song 1984, Johnston 1981). The concentration is higher in milk of mothers of premature babies than in full-term infants (Ford 1983). With a varied and balanced diet, supplements of this vitamin are not needed during breastfeeding, it is enough to adequately select the food in one’s diet (Song 1985). Topical use, most commonly used as panthenol or provitamin B5, regardless of its questionable efficacy, is compatible with breastfeeding.

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