What Is Vitamin B15 Good For? Pangamic Acid

Medically Reviewed on 12/2/2022
What Is Vitamin B15 Good For
Vitamin B15 is promoted as a supplement that may help with skin problems, nerve pain, joint pain, aging, free radical damage, and more

Vitamin B15, also called pangamic acid or pangamate, is not officially recognized as a vitamin. However, vitamin B15 is promoted as a supplement that may provide the following benefits:

  • Helps oxygenate the heart, brain, and other organs
  • Helps with eczema and psoriasis
  • Relieves nerve pain and joint pain
  • Improves exercise tolerance
  • Relieves asthma
  • Fights premature aging and free radical damage
  • Protects the liver from alcohol and other hepatotoxins
  • Supports the body's natural detoxification processes
  • Protects cells from air pollution
  • Improves the immune system
  • Decreases cholesterol
  • Helps balance hormones

What does vitamin B15 do for your body?

Improves heart health

High cholesterol is a major risk factor for serious health problems, including coronary heart disease, heart attacks, and liver and kidney disease. Animal studies have reported that vitamin B15 may lower cholesterol levels and affect vital organs.

Therefore, if you have been diagnosed with cholesterol, you may want to consider taking vitamin B15 along with regular exercise and eating balanced diets may to help keep your blood cholesterol levels within a healthy range.

Prevents premature aging

Due to the antioxidant properties of vitamin B15, it can slow down healthy cell death and combat free radicals that cause aging and damage the skin, hair, and other essential organs. 

Pangamic acid or vitamin B15 is widely utilized in the treatment and prevention of premature aging in Europe and other parts of the world. Consuming vitamin B15 as a supplement or using apricot-infused skin care products may help promote healthy skin and hair due to its anti-aging properties.

Improves brain health

Your brain requires a continuous and consistent supply of oxygen for it to function normally. The brain may enter a hypoxic or anoxic state of oxygen deficiency following the disruption of a constant supply of oxygen to the brain cells due to an injury or certain medical disorders. A hypoxic state occurs when the brain receives just a portion of its oxygen supply, whereas an anoxic state occurs when it receives no oxygen.

One animal study reported that vitamin B15 may promote oxidative processes in the body and help the body regain normal function when oxygen deficiency affects the brain. The animals were subjected to oxygen deprivation at high altitudes, and pangamic acid helped restore normal bodily functions.

QUESTION

Next to red peppers, you can get the most vitamin C from ________________. See Answer

What is vitamin B15 called?

Pangamic acid is referred to as vitamin B15 and is a compound that was claimed to contain D-gluconodimethyl aminoacetic acid. It is found naturally in apricot kernel seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, brewer's yeast, and brown rice. Pangamic acid is a water-soluble chemical advertised as a powerful antioxidant. 

Dimethylglycine (DMG) is occasionally advised as a vitamin B15 alternative because it is thought to interact with gluconic acid to generate pangamic acid when consumed. DMG, however, should not be mistaken for pangamic acid because it is not prohibited in North America and is classed as vitamin B16, not B15.

How safe is vitamin B15?

The typical dose of vitamin B15 is 50 to 150 mg per day. There are no documented harmful effects of pangamic acid, but some users may initially suffer nausea. To prevent this, it should be taken with food, ideally with the largest meal of the day.

Pangamic acid was initially brought into the American nutritional market based on studies undertaken by Soviet sports scientists. Little to no study has been conducted in the United States. There have been disputed claims made for pangamic acid’s usefulness in the treatment of several diseases, including cancer, alcoholism, heart disease, drug addiction, diabetes, and glandular and central nervous system problems. 

Commercially accessible supplemental pangamic acid is derived from apricot kernels. However, FDA studies of various commercial products claiming to include vitamin B15 revealed that many had no pangamic acid.

Pangamic acid was outlawed in the 1970s due to untested claims and rising safety concerns. Vitamin B15 is now available in calcium pangamate in several areas, including Russia and Europe.

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Medically Reviewed on 12/2/2022
References
Image Source: iStock image

Vitamin B15 — Pangamic Acid. https://healthy.net/2000/12/06/vitamin-b15-pangamic-acid-2/

Vitamin B15 (Pangamic Acid). https://nutritionreview.org/2013/10/vitamin-b15-pangamic-acid/