Pantothenate acid May Help Weight Loss by Turning on Brown Fat

Pantothenate acid, also known as vitamin B5, stimulated the production of brown fat in both cell cultures and mice, a new study finds. The study is published ahead of print in the American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism. It was chosen as an APSselect article for July.

Unlike the more common white fat, brown fat burns calories to produce heat. Under particular conditions, white fat can be converted to brown fat. Scientists have been investigating the behavior of brown fat and methods of converting white fat in hope of finding treatments for obesity.

The research team selected vitamin B5 from among compounds that showed potential because of its safety and ease of access. They treated cell cultures of human tissue with vitamin B5. After six days, the cells showed a rise in a number of markers that indicate an increase in mitochondria-a part of the cell that burns calories and which brown fat has in greater quantity than white fat. Staining the tissue also demonstrated an increase in brown fat.