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Ninety-six high-performance athletes of various disciplines were available for this investigation. All athletes had many years of training and competition experience. The pantothenic acid contents in the blood were determined by means of microbiological measurements. In addition to the pantothenic acid level at rest, measurements were made resp. physical exertion in 14 marathon runners and nine body builders. Blood was collected for determination of pantothenic acid before (a), after (b) and 2 h after exercise. Compared to the reference values for untrained persons (1.34 +/- 0.13 nmol/mL), the marathon runners with 0.76 (0.31-0.94) nmol/mL and soccer players with 1.19 (0.37-2.64) nmol/mL were below the reference values. According to relative frequencies, more than 30% of all athletes were below the lower limit (< 1.20 nmol/mL). The values in body builders/racing cyclists differed significantly from those in marathon racers (p < 0.001), which is presumably due to unallowed supplementation. During exercise, there was a significant increase in the pantothenic acid level in marathon runners (p < 0.01).

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