Background
I came across a new study recently that prompted my brand new genotype report + article on vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid).
First, a little background: Vitamin B5, or pantothenic acid, is found in many foods, so frank deficiency is uncommon. Vitamin B5 is the precursor for synthesizing Coenzyme A, so it's kind of the definition of 'fundamental to life' due to CoA's role in mitochondrial energy production. But that also means it doesn't tolerate a lot of common genetic variations, so I didn't think it was all that interesting to write about.
Then I saw this study....
Your gut bacteria might be controlling your sugar cravings — and vitamin B5 is the key. A 2025 study found that pantothenate (B5) produced by Bacteroides vulgatus in your gut increases GLP-1 secretion and reduces sugar cravings. When researchers gave pantothenate supplements to diabetics with low levels of this microbe, their sugar cravings decreased. This is the same mechanism that GLP-1 drugs exploit.
My interest was piqued. I'll let you read through the details - along with connections to brain-deficiency of B5 in Alzheimer's, myelin synthesis, neurodegeneration, and hypermetabolism in neurons.
Switching gears...
The beginning of a new year is a time of planning and goal-setting.
2026 is going to be awesome, but I need your help getting the word out about Genetic Lifehacks! I would really appreciate you sharing something interesting from Genetic Lifehacks on social media - or the old-fashioned way, by talking with a friend about it.
I keep coming back to this quote:
"Without data, you're just another person with an opinion." ~ Edwards Deming, a statistician and business quality planner
My focus with Genetic Lifehacks has always been to fully reference everything with clinical trials and high-quality studies. Data, not opinion. Sometimes that has gone against the popular narrative; more often these days, it means going against what "the AI" told someone. (I do like using Claude Pro for searching PubMed, but just yesterday, it gave me information that was totally backwards about what I consider basic genetics knowledge.)
For 2026, I'm planning to update every article and genotype report on Genetic Lifehacks, with the help of my assistant. The pace of genetic research being published is like drinking from a firehose, but I want Genetic Lifehacks to reflect the current studies. I'm also looking at ways of bringing in more SNPs from whole-genome data, without totally frustrating members who only have 23andMe and Ancestry.
I could use your help. If you see a new study that relates to a topic I've covered on Genetic Lifehacks, I would love it if you would drop me an email with the link to it - or send it to me on Facebook, Instagram, or X.
With your help, I hope to make Genetic Lifehacks the very best resource for anyone looking for ways to apply health data in a personal and realistic way.
Key Takeaways
- Pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) is the precursor for coenzyme A, which is fundamental for mitochondrial energy production.
- Vitamin B5 is especially important in the brain. Post-mortem brain studies show significantly lower vitamin B5 levels in Lewy body dementia, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington’s disease.
- Rare PANK2 mutations cause pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN).
- Pantothenate produced by gut bacteria increases GLP-1 secretion, and supplementing with pantothenate reduced sugar cravings in diabetics with low levels of this microbe.