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Using
Pantothenic Acid (Vitamin B5) As An Acne
Treatment
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by:
Ryan Bauer
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How
Pantothenic Acid Works
Many people have commented before that I recommend vitamin B5
(pantothenic acid) a lot to acne sufferers. There happens to be a
reason for that: It is what cleared my acne. Totally. 100% Eliminated.
If you haven't tried it before, I strongly urge you to give it a go, it
really is amazing stuff.
Pantothenic acid, also known as vitamin B5, is commonly supplemented in
large doses to reduce oil production and help rid your skin of acne. It
works like Accutane, in the sense that it reduces oil production.
Pantothenic acid, however, works by helping your body to metabolize the
fats in your body that later turn into sebum. Accutane actually shrinks
the oil glands to block the oil from coming through to your face. Since
pantothenic acid addresses the underlying problem, it is, in fact, the
more efficient solution.
Let's get into the details of how exactly pantothenic acid works.
During your natural metabolism process, your body breaks down fats.
When your body lacks enough coenzyme-A, not all of these fats can be
broken down, and your body has to get rid of them some how, so they are
ejected through your oil glands on your skin in the form of sebum
(oil). By creating more coenzyme-A, these extra fats can be broken down
with the rest, and oil production will be greatly reduced.
Coenzyme-A is made up of three things: Cysteine, ATP and Pantothenic
Acid. Your body takes care of cysteine and ATP by producing it by
itself, so vitamin B5 is the only thing that you have to take in
through food. By supplementing with pantothenic acid, more coenzyme-A
is producted, fats are broken down better, and less oil ends up on your
skin. Without too much oil on your face, when a pore gets clogged, the
p. acnes bacteria will have nothing to feed upon and can't thrive to
cause acne in the first place.
Considering that pantothenic acid works for more than 90% of the people
who take it, including myself, it's a very effective medication. Since
it's all natural and water soluble, it's much safer than Accutane,
which only works for 70%-80% of the people who take it. It's also more
efficient than Accutane, because it eliminates the problem, instead of
covering it up by shrinking the glands and trapping the fats inside the
body.
Supplementing with Pantothenic Acid
As I've said before, to address a pantothenic acid deficiency, you have
to take large amounts of it, up to around 12 grams or so. Not everyone
has to take quite that much though, so the recommended dosage is as
follows: Start out with around 4 grams per day. Always divide the doses
into 4 times per day, spreading them out as much as possible. To
prevent stomach irritation, the only known side effect of pantothenic
acid, try to take it with food or at least a glass of water.
If the 4 grams doesn't work for you, slowly ramp it up until you start
to see results, stopping at around 12 grams. When you find a dose that
seems to be working for you, stay with it for about two months
straight, continuing to divide the doses so that you are splitting the
dose into 4 parts. After those two months or so, you should be able to
slack back on it until you start seeing negative results to find out
how much you will need to continue to take as a "maintenance dose".
The only thing to watch out for is that pantothenic acid can deplete
your body of other B vitamins, so a B-50 complex should be taken with
it. Some say you should also take Zinc with it, though I only take B-50.
Since pantothenic acid has to be taken in large doses to see results,
that means you can forget trying to get enough by eating foods high in
it, or through a multivitamin or B vitamin complex. You can even forget
about taking pantothenic acid pills, since that means you would have to
take 20+ pills every day. There's only really one reasonable way to
take the amount of B5 you will need to treat acne, which is pantothenic
acid powder.
Pantothenic acid pills can't be found in most stores, much less the
powder form of it. Some health food stores might have it, but the ones
around my area didn't. You might be able to talk to someone at the
store and have them order it for you, though it's usually marked up
quite a bit. The easiest and cheapest way to get pantothenic acid
powder is to just order it online. A Google search will uncover many
websites, such as Amazon.com, which sell pantothenic acid powder at a
great price.
About the Author
Ryan Bauer is a former acne sufferer from
Springfield, MO. He runs an Acne
information website located at http://www.AcneElimination.com
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