The pantothenic acid content of milk appears to increase with increased intake of the vitamin. In India usual intakes of pantothenic acid were correlated with the concentration of the vitamin in human milk (Deodhar and Ramakrishnan, 1960). A similar finding was reported for 26 mothers who were nursing infants at 2 and 12 weeks postpartum (Song et al., 1984); milk pantothenate content was significantly correlated with dietary intake (r = 0.51) and urinary excretion (r = 0.57) of the vitamin and weakly correlated with blood concentrations (r = 0.19). The pantothenic acid content of the milk of supplemented mothers was approximately five times higher than that of the unsupplemented mothers. Blood pantothenic acid concentrations were significantly lower in lactating women at 3 months postpartum (Song et al., 1985) and at 6 weeks postpartum (Cohenour and Galloway, 1972) than for control women who had not been pregnant. Although there is no evidence that pantothenic acid intakes are inadequate to support function during lactation, on the basis of the additional secretion of the vitamin in human milk (1.7 mg/day) and the lower maternal blood concentrations reported when intakes are about 5 to 6 mg/day, an AI of 7 mg/day of pantothenic acid is recommended.

Pantothenic acid is found both free and conjugated in virtually all plant and animal cells. To estimate the dietary intake of pantothenic acid in foods, it is necessary to convert bound pantothenic acid, for example, in coenzyme A (CoA) and fatty acid synthetase, to the free form. Various analytical methods have been used to gather information on the pantothenic acid content of foods (Orr, 1969; Schroeder, 1971; Walsh et al., 1981; Zook et al., 1956). Older data on food