Beat fatigue with CoQ10: dose matters

Posted on Mon, 19 Mar 12

The nutritional supplement CoQ10 may be a good way to boost your energy levels but only if you take the right dose.

In the 1990s a bunch of studies set out to see if CoQ10 would reduce fatigue but the results were rather disappointing (1-4). Compared to placebo there were no significant anti-fatigue effects.

The problem however may have been that the dose was to low. Generally the daily dose of CoQ10 administered was between 70-100 mg with one notable exception, which found improvements in fatigue with a daily 150 mg dose (5).

A more recent study set out to see if a higher dose of CoQ10 would produce a better result (6). A group of healthy volunteers took either a placebo, 100 mg or 300 mg of CoQ10 for eight days and underwent a physical fatigue task  (riding hard on a stationary bicycle) to see if the CoQ10 made any difference to their fatigue.

The group taking 300 mg of CoQ10 reported greater physical performance, reduced subjective fatigue and greater recovery compared to placebo while the 100 mg dose had no real effect.

So if you are going to try CoQ10 for fatigue, try about 300 mg a day because this is the level that has been shown to improve physical and mental fatigue in otherwise healthy people.

References:

1. Braun B, Clarkson PM, Freedson PS, Kohl RL. Effects of coenzyme Q10 supplementation on exercise performance, VO2max, and lipid peroxidation in trained cyclists. Int J Sport Nutr 1991;1:353– 65

2. Mizuno M, Quistorff B, Theorell H, Theorell M, Chance B. Effects of oral supplementation of coenzyme Q10 on 31P-NMR detected skeletal muscle energy metabolism in middle-aged post-polio subjects and normal volunteers. Mol Aspects Med 1997;18:291– 8.

3. Nielsen AN, Mizuno M, Ratkevicius A, Mohr T, Rohde M, Mortensen SA, et al. No effect of antioxidant supplementation in triathletes on maximal oxygen uptake, 31P-NMRS detected muscle energy metabolism and muscle fatigue. Int J Sports Med 1999;20: 154–8.

4. Weston SB, Zhou S, Weatherb RP, Robson SJ. Does exogenous coenzyme Q10 affect aerobic capacity in endurance athletes? Int J Sport Nutr 1997;7:197–206.

5. Porter DA, Costill DL, Zachwieja JJ, Krzeminski K, Fink WJ, Wagner E, Folkers  K. The effect of oral coenzyme Q10 on the exercise tolerance of middle-aged, untrained men. Int J Sports Med. 1995 Oct;16(7):421-7.

6. Mizuno K, Tanaka M, Nozaki S, Mizuma H, Ataka S, Tahara T, Sugino T, Shirai T,Kajimoto Y, Kuratsune H, Kajimoto O, Watanabe Y. Antifatigue effects of coenzyme  Q10 during physical fatigue. Nutrition. 2008 Apr;24(4):293-9. Epub 2008 Feb 13. Erratum in: Nutrition. 2008 Jun;24(6):616.