Ubiquinol

Ubiquinol is the active metabolite of coenzyme Q10, that absorbs up to eight times better than the ubiquinone form of CoQ10 according to studies.

The discovery of ubiquinol was made by Japan’s largest manufacturer of CoQ10 in efforts to find a way to deliver the highest concentrations of the most biologically active form of coenzyme Q10 to the bloodstream.

In studies with ubiquinone, scientists have discovered that the compound has produced beneficial effects on the heart, brain, kidneys, and other tissues from anti-aging perspective.

Ubiquinone, however, is mostly reduced to ubiquinol, which, according to some of the scientists, makes ubiquinol the optimal way to supplement with CoQ10, in its ready-to-use form.

As an indication of this effectiveness, in assimilation studies on rats, oral feeding with the ubiquinol form CoQ10 has been shown to increase blood levels more than twice as high as conventional CoQ10 (ubiquinone), as an indication of the better absorption rates.

Beyond better absorption, or as an indication of it, however, what has surprised scientific community is that ubiquinol seems to have age-retarding effects beyond that of the regular form CoQ10.

In one study by Yan J, Fujii K, Yao J, et al., where study subject rats were divided into three groups, placebo, ubiquinone, and ubiquinol receiving groups, at a point that translates into late middle age of the mice, the group receiving ubiquinol aged 51% slower than placebo and 40% slower than the group receiving the ubiquinone.

Ubiquinol Research and Studies

Kazunori H, Mitsuaki K, Hideyuki, K Hiroshi, K Kenji, F Mikio, K. Study on safety and bioavailability of ubiquinol (Kaneka QHtm). Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2006 Aug 17.

Hosoe K, Kitano M, Kishida H, et al. Study on safety and bioavailability of ubiquinol (Kaneka QH) after single and 4-week multiple oral administration to healthy volunteers. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2006 Aug 17.

Ernster L, Forsmark-Andree P. Ubiquinol: an endogenous antioxidant in aerobic organisms. Clin Investig. 1993;71(8 Suppl):S60-5.

Kontush A, Schippling S, Spranger T, Beisiegel U. Plasma ubiquinol-10 as a marker for disease: is the assay worthwhile? Biofactors. 1999;9(2-4):225-9.

Yamamoto Y, Yamashita S. Plasma ubiquinone to ubiquinol ratio in patients with hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatoma, and in patients treated with percutaneous transluminal coronary reperfusion. Biofactors. 1999;9(2-4):241-6.

Frei B, Kim MC, Ames BN. Ubiquinol-10 is an effective lipid-soluble antioxidant at physiological concentrations. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1990 Jun;87(12):4879-83.

Bowry VW, Mohr D, Cleary J, Stocker R. Prevention of tocopherol-mediated peroxidation in ubiquinol-10-free human low density lipoprotein. J Biol Chem. 1995 Mar 17;270(11):5756-63.

Ingold KU, Bowry VW, Stocker R, Walling C. Autoxidation of lipids and antioxidation by alpha-tocopherol and ubiquinol in homogeneous solution and in aqueous dispersions of lipids: unrecognized consequences of lipid particle size as exemplified by oxidation of human low density lipoprotein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1993 Jan 1;90(1):45-9.

Okamoto T, Matsuya T, Fukunaga Y, Kishi T, Yamagami T. Human serum ubiquinol-10 levels and relationship to serum lipids. Int J Vitam Nutr Res. 1989;59(3):288-92.

Mohr D, Bowry VW, Stocker R. Dietary supplementation with coenzyme Q10 results in increased levels of ubiquinol-10 within circulating lipoproteins and increased resistance of human low-density lipoprotein to the initiation of lipid peroxidation. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1992 Jun 26;1126(3):247-54.


Ubiquinol page to Anti Aging Guide index