634 PANTOTHENIC ACID 



VIII. Occurrence 



GEORGE M. BRIGGS and FLOYD S. DAFT 



There is somewhat of a scarcity of reliable figures in the literature on the 

 pantothenic acid content of natural materials. This is because only in very 

 recent years have methods become available by which the various bound 

 forms of pantothenic acid are released to make them available for the 

 growth of microorganisms. Older values obtained by microbiological assay 

 tend to be somewhat low, especially for materials rich in bound forms. 



Pantothenic acid is universally distributed in all living cells and tissues. 

 In general, liver, kidney, yeast, egg yolk, royal jelly, and fresh vegetables 

 are the best sources of pantothenic acid, and milk, meat, grains, fruits, and 

 nuts are considered fair to good sources. Certain canned products, as well 

 as egg white, beets, corn, and rice, may be considered relatively poor 

 sources. 



A. ASSAY VALUES IN FOODS, FEEDS, TISSUES, AND 

 MISCELLANEOUS MATERIALS 



The tables, which appear at the end of this section give the approxi- 

 mate pantothenic acid content of various classes of materials of natural 

 origin. The values given were selected as much as possible from the most 

 recent and reliable values found in the literature. Not all values, however, 

 have been determined by the use of modern methods of enzymatic release of 

 pantothenic acid, and, hence, they tend to be low. In a few instances, 

 values obtained by several methods are given for the sake of comparison. 



The tables are separated according to the following classification: 



Table XI (p. 638) : FoodstufTs. 



Table XII (p. 642): Feedstuffs (grains, animal by-products, etc.). 



Table XIII (p. 644) : Various varieties of oats, wheat, and soybeans. 



Table XIV (p. 645) : Diet ingredients, enzymes, and miscellaneous. 



Table XV (p. 646) : Organisms of different biological phyla. 



Table XVI (p. 647): Normal tissues of rat, mouse, beef, hog, chick, and 

 human being. 



Table XVII (p. 648) : Milk of various species. 



Table XVIII (p. 648) : Blood of various species. 



Table XIX (p. 649) : Coenzyme A distribution. 



B. EFFECT OF VARIOUS FACTORS ON PANTOTHENIC 

 ACID DISTRIBUTION 



Various factors are known to affect the pantothenic acid content of 

 natural materials as discussed below. 



