Newsworthy articles about
menopause and midlife
women's health-related issues.

Heart disease is a concern of all men and women; finding safe and healthy pathways for lowering heart disease risk factors should be a top priority.

Pantethine is the biologically active form of pantothenic acid (vitamin B-5). It is utilized by key enzymes involved in the transport and breakdown of triglyceride fatty acids and cholesterol. It also helps to prevent oxidation of cholesterol, thereby aiding the body in keeping the arteries plaque-free.

Mild deficiency is characterized by fatigue and listlessness. Severe deficiency states are often accompanied by "burning foot syndrome." The symptoms consist of numbness and shooting pains in the feet. Here are situations for which I advise pantethine.

Perimenopausal Women


Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death in adult women. The incidence of heart attack and stroke rapidly increases during the perimenopausal period (i.e., several years before and following menopause).  Very often, women's risk factors are related to serum levels of total cholesterol and low density lipoproteins (LDLs), the latter of which is the easily damaged (oxidized) component of cholesterol that becomes embedded within the lining of the arteries, causing plaque.

Researchers treated 24 perimenopausal women, ranging in age from 45 to 55 and with total serum cholesterol greater than or equal to 240 mg/dl), with 900 mg/day of pantethine.

After 16 weeks of treatment, significant reductions of total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and ratio of LDLs to high density lipoproteins (HDLs, the good cholesterol that resists oxidation) could be observed in about 80 percent of patients. None of the patients complained of adverse reactions due to the treatment with pantethine.

Diabetes

Elevated cholesterol and triglycerides are a very frequent complication of the diabetic patient, especially those on dialysis. There is difficulty of treatment with the diet, because of the dietary restriction already imposed on these patients and the secondary effects and toxicity of the available drugs further aggravate their condition. In such cases, pantethine is particularly beneficial.

Some 37 patients with either high cholesterol or triglycerides, 21 of whom were diabetic, were treated with 600 mg of pantethine daily. Pantethine induced in all groups a quick and progressive decrease of cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL cholesterol with increased HDLs.

In another study, 22 diabetic patients on dialysis, suffering from high cholesterol, were treated with 900 mg/day of pantethine. There were significant reductions of total cholesterol (275 mg/dl to 231 mg/dl), very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) and triglycerides (332 mg/dl to 227 mg/dl) after two months of treatment.

A one-year clinical trial with pantethine was conducted in 24 patients with established cholesterol problems, alone or associated with diabetes mellitus.  The treatment was well tolerated by all patients with no subjective complaints or detectable side effects. Blood lipid assays repeated after one,
three, six, nine and twelve months of treatment revealed consistent and statistically significant reductions of total cholesterol and LDLs and other disease-causing types of cholesterol with parallel increases of HDLs.

Michael T. Murray, N.D., is widely regarded as one of the world's leading authorities on natural medicine. He is the author or co-author of over 20 books including the best-selling Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine (Prima Publishing 1998).

The doctors' prescription


Pantethine is a highly effective supplement that may be used by persons at risk for heart disease, including perimenopausal women and diabetics. The
usual dose is 900 mg daily in three divided doses with meals. Pantethine has no significant side effects or drug interactions. Pantethine's effects may be
synergized with carnitine and coenzyme Q10.


Pantethine and Pantothenic Acid can be purchased on the Internet's #1 Health Catalogue,   Puritan's Pride.