Vitamina B5, la protestosterona que cura los tendones

Vitamin B5, the pro-testosterone that heals tendons

Heal your tendons faster and raise testosterone as a side effect.

Almost no one talks about vitamin B5, also known as pantothenic acid, probably because deficiencies are rare. Even its name, taken from the Greek word pantothen, means “from everywhere,” suggesting that you can find the vitamin in almost all the natural foods you might eat.

However, if you train hard while following a low-carbohydrate diet, or are deficient in another B vitamin (which plays a role in vitamin B5 metabolism), you could easily become deficient in it. The thing is, deficiencies of this vital nutrient can result in restlessness, sleep problems, a “pins and needles” sensation, and stomach cramps or, in some cases, slower recovery from certain possible injuries to your tendons.

It could also lead to testosterone deficiency because the testes, being the biochemical craftsmen they are, require this vitamin to help convert cholesterol into testosterone. So, let’s agree that a vitamin B5 deficiency is a bad idea and should be remedied, at least for the sake of your testes. However, surprisingly, there is also evidence that skin or tendon injuries could heal faster when taking relatively large doses of the nutrient.

Vitamin B5 and testosterone

Relatively recent research conducted by Japanese scientists revealed that extensive exercise, together with a high-fat diet (which is often accompanied by fewer carbohydrates, at least in athletes or amateur bodybuilders), reduces vitamin B5 levels.

When the researchers worked with rodents, they noted that this decrease in B5 levels led to, or was at least associated with, a noticeable decrease in testosterone levels.

Vitamin B5 and injuries

It is not unusual to find older studies that seemingly uncover valuable clues about improved performance, clues that were somehow ignored and swallowed by time. This appears to be the case with some French researchers who discovered in the 1980s that supraphysiological (but not extreme) doses of vitamin B5 caused skin and tendon damage to heal after certain accidents.

This, of course, could be a great help to the tens of thousands of athletes who strain, tear, or mutilate their tendons every year… well, to test their premise, the researchers divided a group of rabbits into three groups:

  • One group receiving standard food.
  • One group receiving food with reduced levels of vitamin B5.
  • One group receiving food plus supplementation with that vitamin.

They then operated on the rabbits, making incisions in the skin and tendon tissue of the abdomen; over the days, weeks, and months that followed, the supplemented group showed significantly faster and improved healing.

In fact, by day 10, the scar tissue of the vitamin B5-supplemented group was stronger than that of the other groups. In addition, healing of the tendons was even more impressive. Unfortunately, however, the researchers could not find a biochemical reason why this was happening, which remains intriguing.

Possible applications of the research

If you are following a “normal” diet with appreciable percentages of fat and carbohydrates, you probably do not need vitamin B5 supplements. However, vegetarian athletes might consider supplementing with the vitamin because they are not getting any/much cholesterol in their diets.

If you are working hard while limiting your carbohydrates (and presumably replacing them with greater amounts of fat), you should consider taking the vitamin. In this case, one 500 mg tablet or capsule taken orally each day should be sufficient and presumably keep testosterone sufficiently elevated. If you have suffered an injury to your tendons, it may also speed up your recovery.

Are you using the right vitamins when training hard?

 

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