CoQ10 vs. Ubiquinol: which is better?

Posted on Thu, 28 Aug 14

It is suggested that the newer dietary supplement ubiquinol is superior to CoQ10 (ubiquinone) however a review of marketing claims reveals this may be more marketing hype than science.

1. Is ubiquinol more effective?

Currently there are about 11 human clinical studies of ubiquinol (1-11) while there are hundreds of clinical studies of CoQ10 (12). This is important because it is CoQ10, not ubiquinol, which has a wealth of evidence supporting its efficacy and safety for a wide range of uses.

The only clinical study directly comparing CoQ10 to ubiquinol for a health issue (dry mouth) found no difference in terms of clinical effectiveness at an equivalent 100 mg dose of each (1). And a study of ubiqinol in fibromyalgia found benefit on fatigue, but not pain symptoms (13). In contrast, CoQ10 has been shown to result in clinical improvements in both pain and fatigue (14). 

It is also claimed that ubiquinol is more effective thus you need to take less.  However, clinical studies tend to use doses ranging from 100 mg to 450 mg of ubiquinol daily, which is no less than those typically used for CoQ10.

Summary: There is currently no evidence to suggest low-dose or an equivalent-dose of ubiquinol is clinically more effective than CoQ10.

2. Is ubiquinol biologically superior?

It is claimed that ubiquinol is the “biologically active” form of CoQ10 and thus superior. However, both ubiquinol and CoQ10 have distinct physiological functions and are both important biologically. Notably, CoQ10 is produced in the body and can then be easily converted to ubiquinol if required. And supplementation with CoQ10 will significantly raise ubiquinol levels (15).

Summary: There is no evidence to suggest ubiquinol is biologically superior.

3. Does CoQ10 metabolism decline with age?

It is claimed that the ability to synthesize and convert CoQ10 to ubiquinol declines with age; therefore supplementation with ubiquinol is superior. On the contrary, a study looking at blood levels of CoQ10 with age found an increase in blood levels in older age (16) and another study comparing blood levels of CoQ10 and ubiquinol in younger children (0.2-7.6 years) to adults (29-78 years) found no significant difference (17).

Summary: CoQ10 production and conversion to ubiquinol does not appear to change significantly with age.

4. Is absorption of ubiquinol superior?

It is claimed ubiqionol has superior absorption, but to date four studies have directly compared the absorption of CoQ10 to ubiquinol with mixed results. Two of these found no significant difference between CoQ10 and ubiquinol, one study suggested superior absorption of ubiquinol and another found CoQ10 superior (18-21). 

Also, it is important to note that the bioavailability of CoQ10 varies considerably across formulations making comparisons of absorption difficult (15). And the absorption of CoQ10 is enhanced by about 300% if taken with food (22).  

Summary:  It is not clear if ubiquinol absorption is superior to CoQ10. Further, CoQ10 formulation and timing with food will greatly affect absorption. 

The bottom line

Claims that ubiquinol is superior to CoQ10 can be misleading and may be more marketing hype than science. Furthermore, ubiquinol is also often more expensive. CoQ10 has a well established history of use and it is premature to discard it for ubiquinol.

References:

1. Ryo K, Ito A, Takatori R, Tai Y, Arikawa K, Seido T, Yamada T, Shinpo K, Tamaki Y, Fujii K, Yamamoto Y, Saito I. Effects of coenzyme Q10 on salivary secretion. Clin Biochem. 2011 Jun;44(8-9):669-74.
2. Miyamae T, Seki M, Naga T, Uchino S, Asazuma H, Yoshida T, Iizuka Y, Kikuchi M, Imagawa T, Natsumeda Y, Yokota S, Yamamoto Y. Increased oxidative stress and coenzyme Q10 deficiency in juvenile fibromyalgia: amelioration of hypercholesterolemia and fatigue by ubiquinol-10 supplementation. Redox Rep. 2013;18(1):12-9.
3. Alf D, Schmidt ME, Siebrecht SC. Ubiquinol supplementation enhances peak power production in trained athletes: a double-blind, placebo controlled study. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2013 Apr 29;10(1):24.
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12. PubMed, Search CoQ10 human clinical trials. Preformed October 2013.
13.  Miyamae T, Seki M, Naga T, Uchino S, Asazuma H, Yoshida T, Iizuka Y, Kikuchi M, Imagawa T, Natsumeda Y, Yokota S, Yamamoto Y. Increased oxidative stress and coenzyme Q10 deficiency in juvenile fibromyalgia: amelioration of hypercholesterolemia and fatigue by ubiquinol-10 supplementation. Redox Rep. 2013;18(1):12-9.
14. Cordero MD, Alcocer-Gómez E, de Miguel M, Culic O, Carrión AM, Alvarez-Suarez  JM, Bullón P, Battino M, Fernández-Rodríguez A, Sánchez-Alcazar JA. Can coenzyme  q10 improve clinical and molecular parameters in fibromyalgia? Antioxid Redox Signal. 2013 Oct 20;19(12):1356-61.
15. Villalba JM, Parrado C, Santos-Gonzalez M, Alcain FJ. Therapeutic use of coenzyme Q10 and coenzyme Q10-related compounds and formulations. Expert Opin Investig Drugs. 2010 Apr;19(4):535-54.
16. Wada H, Goto H, Hagiwara S, Yamamoto Y. Redox status of coenzyme Q10 is associated with chronological age. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2007 Jul;55(7):1141-2.
17. Miles MV, Horn PS, Tang PH, Morrison JA, Miles L, DeGrauw T, Pesce AJ. Age-related changes in plasma coenzyme Q10 concentrations and redox state in apparently healthy children and adults. Clin Chim Acta. 2004 Sep;347(1-2):139-44.
18. Dixon B, McKinnon T, Schneider E, Brown M, Wood T, Cuomo J. Bioavailability of Ubiquinone versus Ubiquinol. 2011. USANA Clinical Research Bulletin, USANA Health Sciences, Inc. SLC, UT.
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20. Langsjoen, P. H. and Langsjoen, A. M. (2013), Comparison study of plasma coenzyme Q₁₀ levels in healthy subjects supplemented with ubiquinol versus ubiquinone. Clinical Pharm in Drug Dev. doi: 10.1002/cpdd.73
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