Coenzyme Q10 Research Analysis

Frank, Kurtis; Patel, Kamal; Lopez, Gregory; Willis, Bill

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Coenzyme Q10

Coenzyme Q10 is a molecule found in mitochondria that has a critical role in producing energy for the body. It also plays an important role in the endogenous antioxidant system.

Research analysis led by Kamal Patel .
Reviewed by
Examine.com Team
Last Updated: Jan 7, 2021

Summary of Coenzyme Q10

Primary information, health benefits, side effects, usage, and other important details

What is coenzyme Q10?

Coenzyme Q10 (COQ10) is a molecule produced in the body. It aids mitochondria during energy production and is a part of the endogenous antioxidant system. It is similar to other pseudovitamin compounds because it is vital for survival, but does not necessarily need to be taken as a supplement. However, there is a potential for deficiency due to suffering a heart attack, taking statins, various disease states, and aging.

It is found in various foods; mainly meat and fish.

What are coenzyme Q10’s benefits?

Some research suggests minor improvements in the function of blood vessels, leading to reduce blood pressure and improved blood flow. However, more studies are needed to confirm this. The proposed mechanism is related to nitric oxide preservation, as seen with grape seed extract, pycnogenol, and resveratrol.

It seems to be strongly effective for reducing the symptoms of fibromyalgia, but this is based on a handful of small studies, and much more research is needed to confirm this.

What are coenzyme Q10’s side effects and drawbacks?

It seems to be safe but more research is needed to evaluate its safety in the long-term. In animals, a massive dose of 350mg/kg body weight has been observed to exacerbate the effects of aging, but human studies don't suggest any convincing adverse effects from normal doses.

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How to Take

Recommended dosage, active amounts, other details

The standard dose for CoQ10 is generally 90mg for a low dose and 200mg for the higher dose, taken once daily with a meal due to its reliance on food for absorption. Dose-dependence is not commonly observed with CoQ10 supplementation and 90mg tends to be the best cost-effective dose.

There generally isn't too much of a therapeutic effect of CoQ10 supplementation (mostly taken with the 'just in case' mentality that pervades multivitamin supplementation), although for people who have previously experience a heart attack or damage to cardiac tissue as well as for people on statin therapy supplementation becomes much more important.

CoQ10 supplements can be either the oxidized form (ubiquinone) or reduced form (ubiquinol) as both forms seem pretty equally potent in increasing circulating levels of total CoQ10 in the body. 'Total CoQ10' refers to the sum of both forms, since CoQ10 can readily swap between forms as it acts in the body.

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Human Effect Matrix

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The Human Effect Matrix summarizes human studies to tell you what effects Coenzyme Q10 has on your body, how much evidence there is, and how strong these effects are.
Full details are available to Examine Members.

Grade	Level of Evidence [show legend]
	Robust research conducted with repeated double-blind clinical trials
	Multiple studies where at least two are double-blind and placebo controlled
	Single double-blind study or multiple cohort studies
	Uncontrolled or observational studies only

Outcome	Magnitude of effect ? The direction and size of the supplement's impact on each outcome. Some supplements can have an increasing effect, others have a decreasing effect, and others have no effect.	Consistency of research results ? Scientific research does not always agree. HIGH or VERY HIGH means that most of the scientific research agrees.	Notes
Lipid Peroxidation	Notable	Very High See all 11 studies	Appears to reduce biomarkers of lipid peroxidation. CoQ10 tends to be a reference drug for lipid peroxidation, and although it is more potent than other nutraceuticals it is not astounding.
Anti-Oxidant Enzyme Profile	Minor	Moderate See all 7 studies	May increase levels of antioxidant enzymes, does not appear to be reliable
Blood Flow	Minor	Very High See all 5 studies	Appears to increase blood flow in metabolic conditions characterized by both insufficient blood flow and an excess of oxidative stress.
Blood Pressure	Minor	Low See all 9 studies	There appears to be an interaction between CoQ10 and blood pressure, but it is not wholly reliable and uncertain whether this is at the level of the cardiac tissue or at the level of the endothelium (both plausible). Magnitude of reductions don't appear too remarkable.
Endothelial Function	Minor	Very High See all 3 studies	The effective size does not appear to be overly large, but CoQ10 is associated with a protective effect on blood flow and endothelial function in persons with otherwise impaired function.
Exercise Capacity (with Heart Conditions)	Minor	Very High See all 4 studies	Appears to aid exercise capacity in persons after myocardial infarction
Exercise-Induced Oxidation	Minor	Moderate See all 4 studies	Mixed effects on exercise-induced oxidation, but there appears to be some potential for CoQ10 supplementation to reduce oxidation.
Fatigue	Minor	High See all 6 studies	There may be an anti-fatigue effect of CoQ10 during exercise that may not extend to general fatigue.
General Oxidation	Minor	High See all 9 studies	Appears to generally reduce pro-oxidative biomarkers in the body
HbA1c	Minor	Low See all 5 studies	There may be an effect on HbA1c, but it appears unreliable and not overly potent.
Blood Glucose	-	Very High See all 7 studies	Insufficient evidence to support changes in blood glucose with CoQ10 supplementation
Inflammation	-	High See all 4 studies	Classical inflammatory cytokines do not appear to be altered much following CoQ10 supplementation, although there may still be a minor antiinflammatory effect
Total Cholesterol	-	Very High See all 10 studies	No significant or consistent effects on total cholesterol levels noted with CoQ10
Symptoms of Fibromyalgia	Strong	Very High See all 6 studies	CoQ10 appears to be quite strongly effective for reducing symptoms of fibromyalgia (strong rating may be retracted at a later time when other reference drugs arise)
Glycemic Control	Notable	Very High See all 4 studies	A limited number of studies consistently suggested a notable effect in various health conditions associated with insulin resistance.
Migraine	Notable	Very High See all 6 studies	Most studies have found a notable reduction in frequency and severity among those with frequent migraines.
Symptoms of Peyronie's Disease	Notable	- See study	Notable reduction in the progression of Peyronie's disease state (and secondary to that, improvements in erectile properties) as CoQ10 may be one of the only oral treatments of this condition
Erections	Minor	- See study	Increased erectile function has been noted with CoQ10, but this may be secondary to reductions in symptoms of Peyronie's Disease
Follicle-Stimulating Hormone	Minor	Very High See 2 studies	A decrease in follicle stimulating hormone has been detected
Luteinizing Hormone	Minor	Very High See 2 studies	A decrease in luteinizing hormone has been detected with CoQ10 supplementation
Muscle Damage	Minor	- See study	A slight decrease in biomarkers of muscle damage has been noted with CoQ10 supplementation.
Pre-Eclampsia Risk	Minor	- See study	A reduction in risk has been noted, but not to an overly amazing degree
Quality of Life	Minor	Moderate See all 3 studies	An increase in QOL has been noted in persons who either have heart ailments or are at risk for them, but this may not be a universal increase (perhaps dependent on reducing disease state symptoms)
Rating of Perceived Exertion	Minor	Very High See 2 studies	A decrease in the rate of perceived exertion has been noted with CoQ10 supplementation
Seminal Motility	Minor	Very High See all 3 studies	Requires more evidence to assess potency, but it does appear to reliably increase seminal motility
Sperm Quality	Minor	Moderate See all 5 studies	There may be some beneficial influences on the sperm quality, but they have not been reliably reported
Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease	Minor	- See study
Testosterone	Minor	Very High See 2 studies	Not the largest increase, and was in infertile men; may not apply to fertile men.
VO₂ Max	Minor	Very High See 2 studies	An increase in VO2 max of untrained persons has been noted following CoQ10 supplementation.
Adiponectin	-	Very High See 2 studies	No detectable interaction of CoQ10 and adiponectin
Anaerobic Running Capacity	-	Very High See 2 studies	No significant influence on anaerobic cardiovascular exercise has been detected with CoQ10 (although an anti-fatigue effect has been noted)
C-Reactive Protein	-	Very High See all 3 studies	No significant influence on levels of C-reactive protein
Exercise Capacity	-	- See study	No significant detectable effect on exercise capacity when preloaded
HDL-C	-	- See all 7 studies
Insulin	-	Very High See all 5 studies	Insufficient evidence to support changes in insulin associated with CoQ10 supplementation.
Interleukin 6	-	- See all 6 studies
LDL-C	-	- See all 7 studies
Oxygen Uptake	-	- See study	No detectable influence on oxygen uptake during exercise
TNF-Alpha	-	- See all 4 studies
Triglycerides	-	- See all 6 studies
Symptoms of Prader Willi Syndrome	Notable	- See study	Notable due to the aid to psychocognitive capabilities being comparable to the growth hormone active control (although not as effective in regards to physical development). Study in infants, not enough evidence in adults
Cardiac Mass	Minor	- See study	A decrease in cardiac mass has been noted with CoQ10 supplementation
Fertility	Minor	- See study	Insufficient evidence to support whether the increase in fertility is large or not, but preliminary evidence suggests that it exists.
Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction	Minor	- See study	Has been noted to increase LVEF in persons with myocardial impairment
UV Damage	Minor	Very High See 2 studies	A decrease in UV damage has been detected with supplemental CoQ10
Advanced Glycation End Products	-	- See study
Aerobic Exercise	-	- See study
Anxiety	-	- See 2 studies
Apolipoprotein A	-	- See study
Apolipoprotein B	-	- See study
Calcitonin Gene-related Peptide	-	- See study
Cardiovascular Disease Mortality	-	- See study
Cramps	-	- See study
Creatine Kinase	-	- See study
Creatinine	-	- See study
Depression	-	- See 2 studies
Estrogen	-	- See study
Heart Rate	-	- See study
Intercellular Adhesion Molecule 1	-	- See study
Interleukin 10	-	- See 2 studies
Interleukin 4	-	- See study
Lactate Threshold	-	- See study
Leptin	-	- See study
Lipoprotein A	-	- See study
Liver Enzymes	-	- See study
Matrix metallopeptidase 9	-	- See study
Nausea	-	- See 2 studies
Nitric Oxide	-	- See study
Pain	-	- See 2 studies
Plasma Vitamin C	-	- See study
Plasma Vitamin E	-	- See study
Power Output	-	- See study
Progesterone	-	- See study
Protein Carbonyl Content	-	- See study
Risk of Stroke	-	- See study
Sex Hormone Binding Globulin	-	- See study
Skin Elasticity	-	- See study
Skin Moisture	-	- See study
Sleep Quality	-	- See study
Sperm Count	-	- See study
Subjective Well-Being	-	- See study
Symptoms of Autism	-	- See study
Symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis	-	- See study
Total Antioxidant Capacity	-	- See all 3 studies
Transforming Growth Factor Beta	-	- See study
Urea	-	- See study
Weight	-	- See 2 studies
Wrinkles	-	- See study
vLDL-C	-	- See study

Studies Excluded from Consideration

Confounded with the inclusion of other nutrients^[1]^[2]

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Things to Note

Also Known As

CoQ10, Ubiquinone, Ubiquinol, trans 2, 3-dimethoxy-5-methyl-6-decaprenyl-1, 4-benzoquinone

Do Not Confuse With

Idebenone (Synthetic derivative)

Goes Well With

Other mitochondrial bioenergetic factors (Creatine, L-Carnitine, and Alpha-Lipoic Acid having some evidence in vitro)

CoQ10 is not stimulatory
Oil based CoQ10 supplements should be taken with meals

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Coenzyme Q10

Coenzyme Q10 is a molecule found in mitochondria that has a critical role in producing energy for the body. It also plays an important role in the endogenous antioxidant system.

Summary of Coenzyme Q10

Primary information, health benefits, side effects, usage, and other important details

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How to Take

Recommended dosage, active amounts, other details

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Human Effect Matrix

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Studies Excluded from Consideration

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Study Deep Dives

Things to Note

Is a Form Of

Other Functions:

Primary Function:

Also Known As

Do Not Confuse With

Goes Well With

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Research Breakdown on Coenzyme Q10

1.1Sources

1.2Structure and Properties

1.3Biosynthesis and Regulation

1.4Tissue and Subcellular Distribution

1.5Deficiency States

2.1Gastric and Intestinal

2.2Serum

2.3Distribution and Tissue Concentrations

2.4Excretion and Clearance

2.5Phase I Enzyme Interactions

2.6Known Drug Interactions

3.1Mechanisms

3.2Interventions

4.1Distribution

4.2Cognition

4.3Parkinson's Disease

4.4Huntington's Disease

4.5Depression

4.6Migraine

5.1Cardiac Tissue (Myocardium)

5.2Blood Pressure

5.3Lipoproteins

6.1Insulin

6.2Diabetes

7.1Pharmacology and Tissue deposition

7.2Mechanisms

7.3Muscle Fiber Composition

7.4Power Output

7.5Cardiovascular Exercise

7.6Exercise related Fatigue

8.1Mechanisms

9.1Rationale

10.1Skin

11.1Fibromyalgia

11.2Prader-Willis

11.3Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

11.4Conditions of Male Sexuality

12.1Carnitine

12.2Creatine

12.3Alpha-Lipoic Acid

12.4Statins

12.5Grapefruit

12.6Pycnogenol

13.1General

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