anyone have info on the difference and if ubiquinol is more readily utilized by the body? it’s a big more expensive and haven’t read much on it’s differences over regular CoQ10.
I was wondering this too, someone asked John Meadows in the spill from his Your Brain is Rancid article:
http://www.T-Nation.com/article-comments/your_brain_is_rancid
his answer:
“ubiquinol is just the reduced form of CoQ10 - so easier for your body to use…but not as big of a deal as people make it out to be”
I read somewhere that until you are about 35-40 your body can make the conversion between the two just fine and ubiquinone (the non-reduced version) can be used. After that point your body has more difficulty making the conversion and the person would be better off switching to ubiquinol (the reduced form).
I wish I remember where I read that but I do know that older individuals do seem to have more of a requirement for this supplement than say a 25 year old. A side note, statin drugs deplete coQ10 so it’s definitely a useful supplement for someone on those.
Yeah, I read the same about age and 35, I wanna say Mercola.
I bought the Ubiquinol from him 3 months was a decent price. Figured I would supplement occasionally with it at this point, just turning 30.
and I hear ya on the statin thing, I can’t believe some docs don’t recommend it for those on statins. I have a lady here at the senior center I work at on statins just developed vertigo, docs have no clue why yet.
Hmmm, vertigo one of the side effects.
There is definitely a decline in the ability of conversion in aging. However, ubiquinol is oxidized in the stomach to ubiquinone before it is absorbed. So one still has to deal with conversion issues. I suspect that the comparisons in absorption were due to using powdered crystalline ubiquinone compared to liposome, micelle, or nanoparticle ubiquinol (liposome, micellar, and nanoparticle ubiquinone has the same increase in absorption).
The one study comparing ubiquinone to ubiquinol in heart patients has a slightly higher dose of ubiquinol. This alone could be the difference, though there could still be the above affect. I wasn’t going to pay for the study, but here is the reference if someone has access:
Biofactors. 2008;32(1-4):119-28.
Supplemental ubiquinol in patients with advanced congestive heart failure.
Langsjoen PH, Langsjoen AM.
Ok just read the Methods section of the paper but the way they wrote the abstract it appeared it was a higher dosage but when looking at the methods only 2 of the 7 patients received a higher dosage of ubiquinol. The others were taking the same amount as the ubiquinone dosage and it increased their blood levels. It’s actually a pretty interesting read if anyone else has access.
Also the youngest case study presented is 58 so conversion could definitely be a confounding issue.
Thanks for the research Bonesaw. There is no question as to conversion droping with age.
Any word on the type of ubiquinone used? This is important as ubiquinol has a slightly higher absorption until one compares with an enhanced form of ubiquinone such as the liposome, miceller, or nanoparticle versions. If these enhanced versions were used, the results would indicated that ubiquinol is not reduced (or at least not 100%) and would definitely give credence to its recommendation for those above say 35-40.
In the case study portions they simply refer to the patients as taking ubiquinone and switching to ubiquinol. Just reread the case studies and it doesn’t say what version although that would be an interesting question. They do however state that the ubiquinol capsules were provided by Kaneka. Perhaps they would have more information in the form of a COA or something for their product. I know they sell ubiquinol here in the states.
I don’t have access, the switch part is interesting, how long were they on it prior to switching? Is there a build up upon which the ubiquinol can add to?
I guess what I (and I assume others) want to know is about the purported oxidation of ubiquinol to ubiquinone in the stomach as this would make dosing and version recommendations clearer. Was hoping for a clearer indication from this study, but I cannot blame the authors for that.
Doesn’t really say how long they were on it. They state in some of the that the patients are undergoing “standard medical therapy and ubiquinone” at such and such a dose. Basically everyone’s levels of CoQ10 were low and weren’t increasing on ubiquinone. However, after the switch their levels came up pretty dramatically within a few months of switching over. For example one patient who was on 450 mg/day of ubiquinone with plasma CoQ10 levels of 2.0 ug/mL switched to 450 mg/day ubiquinol in June 2006. By September 2006 his plasma levels rose to 7.8 ug/mL.
Thank for the clarification.