Pantethine can dramatically change your health and improve your metabolism. Pantethine, like no other nutrient, directly fuels the production Co-Enzyme A (CoA). CoA is a pivotal energy broker molecule in your metabolism, used in at least 70 metabolic pathways involved in the metabolism of fat, cholesterol, carbohydrates, and amino acids. Pantethine helps you clear toxins, boost your adrenal gland function, elevate your mood, clear your head, and is a vital nutrient for the health and well-being of your brain and cardiovascular system.

Pantethine is a derivative of vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid). Regular vitamin B5 must go through five enzymatic conversions before it can become CoA. Pantethine goes through one. In individuals with fatigue or metabolic problems, the conversion of regular vitamin B5 into CoA is reduced, or even impaired. Pantetheine is double bonded with sulfur to form the dietary supplement ingredient, pantethine. The sulfur bond enables pantethine to have special biological activity that vitamin B5 simply does not have. The information in this article specifically applies to pantethine, whereas regular vitamin B5 has not remotely been shown to produce these benefits.

BDNF, Stress, Adrenals, and Pantethine

BDNF¹ (brain-derived neurotrophic factor ) is a growth factor for nerves, supports the survival of existing neurons and helps stimulate stem cells to make new ones, including new connections. It is known that BDNF levels are low in depression. BDNF is lowered by stress, free radicals, and excitotoxins; it is boosted by aerobic exercise. French scientists have recently reported that BDNF can initiate the repair of brain networks that have been damaged. University of California researchers have now shown, in a variety of animal studies, that BDNF can prevent and reverse Alzheimer’s disease. An emerging body of research on BDNF demonstrates far ranging implications for mood, cognitive function, and nerves.

Pantethine is an ideal nutrient to support BDNF formation². As a stress busting nutrient³ it supports the adrenal glands⁴ as well as overall energy production. One study explains that pantethine is ideally suited as a BDNF stimulating nutrient. Pantethine is metabolized to cysteamine, a compound now proven to boost BDNF function. This is great news since pantethine has been in use as a dietary supplement for some time with no significant side effects or risks of any kind.

A recent study shows that as CoA levels decline in nerve cells, amino acids that stabilize the nerve cell’s DNA decline. Pantethine was able to help reverse this problem, thereby protecting nerves from wear and tear.

Collectively, these nerve related studies show that pantethine provides multiple strategies to protect and boost your brain.

Improved Platelets – Even Protection Against Malaria

Platelets are blood cells that regulate the bleeding and clotting process. They are made in your bone marrow, and are new every seven to 10 days, meaning the nutrients you take have a profound ability to determine their healthy function. In people with chronic inflammation, platelets become sticky, increasing the risk for excessive clotting and stroke.

Pantethine has been shown to improve the health of the cell membrane of platelets, helping them perform much more normally and in a less sticky manner. Specifically, pantethine helped increase the level of the anti-inflammatory essential fatty acids EPA and DHA, while simultaneously lowering the pro-inflammatory levels of arachidonic acid. These results were repeated several years later and once again showed the improvement in the cell membrane fluidity of platelets⁶.

Weight Loss, Leptin, Adiponectin

The development of a fatty liver as a result of weight gain marks a serious metabolic turning point that sets the stage for type II diabetes and serious metabolic problems. In one study sixteen patients with fatty liver received 600 mg pantethine per day. Their liver enzymes were cut in half (returning to normal) and their adiponectin¹⁴ levels were improved.

Animal studies show that pantethine activates lipoprotein lipase¹⁶, the enzyme within white adipose tissue that helps break down triglycerides so that fatty acids are available to use as fuel. This means that pantethine will directly support healthy fat metabolism within white adipose tissue, and as mentioned above this includes the boosting of adiponectin levels. The net result is to support healthy leptin function with stored fat. And by clearing triglycerides out of the blood, pantethine supports leptin getting into your brain more efficiently, meaning that pantethine helps overcome leptin resistance problems.


Pantethine is a potent nutrient to help maintain healthy fat burning and thus better leptin function.

A Natural Detoxification Booster

Pantethine has been shown to boost the activity of the important enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase¹⁸, a pivotal enzyme in detoxification. Not only is this the enzyme that clears alcohol, but it also clears the aldehyde toxins of Candida albicans, and aldehydes generated from damaged unsaturated fats (as in potato chips, corn chips, and French fries). There are many aldehyde based chemicals in the environment that also overload this system. Moving aldehydes in normal chemistry reactions can be impaired, which can also jam up initial steps of detoxification (phase I detoxification). Problems with pollen and mold reflect a lack of ability to clear aldehydes. One of the key signs of aldehyde excess is brain fog, which is why we call pantethine the “clear head pill.”

Pantethine, which makes CoA, and the Acetyl-CoA, helps fuel the production of acetyl groups that can be used for such purposes as making acetyl-choline for memory and nerve transmission and helping influence the liver detoxification pathways that rely on acetylation of toxins in order to get them out of your body (part of the phase II detoxification system). In this situation, Acetyl-CoA uses glycine, glutamine or taurine to bind up a toxin so that it can be excreted. Many common toxins are removed in this way.

Thus, pantethine is a key player in the detoxification system. Since we are now a society overloaded by pollution, if you run low on CoA for your needed detoxification shores then you will also run low on energy, low on BDNF, and low on adrenal function. Plus, fat and cholesterol will begin to pile up. There is just not enough CoA to get all the needed tasks performed. Pantethine can help correct multiple problems and at the same time, will significantly boost your health.