Pantothenic acid as a weight-reducing agent: fasting without hunger, weakness and ketosis.

With the conventional method of fasting or aggressive dieting to reduce excess body fat, hunger, weakness, ketogenesis and ketosis are the sequential events that follow. It is not fully understood why, under conditions of negative calorie balance where complete energy release from storage fat is critical, ketosis should arise with a concomitant wastage of energy. Here, I wish to propose a theory that relates the formation of ketone bodies under such conditions to a deficiency in dietary pantothenic acid. Supplementation of this vitamin would facilitate complete catabolism of fatty acids and thus the formation of ketone bodies could be circumvented. As a result, a sufficient amount of energy would be released from storage fat to relieve dieters of the sensation of hunger and weakness which otherwise would be difficult to endure. Hence, using this method for weight reduction together with a careful observation of calorie intake, I have great success in treating overweight-to-obese patients to lose weight.