PROGRAMME SCIENTIFIQUE - Oxygen Club of California

P4
Bioavailability of QH absorb, a novel formulation of reduced Coenzyme Q 10
L. Tiano, F. Brugè, F. Principi and G.P. Littarru
Department of Biochemistry, Biology and Gentics, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy.
Coenzyme Q 10 is widely used as a food supplement and, in some countries as an ethical drug, on the basis
of its recognized roles in cellular bioenergetics and as a lypophilic antioxidant. Bioavailability of CoQ10
formulations is very limited, but some effects of CoQ10, such as improvement of endothelial function (1)
have clearly being related to the achievement of a certain plasma level threshold. Recently the reduced
form of CoQ10, Ubiquinol-10, was made available. Even though oxidised CoQ10 is promptly reduced
when administered per os, animal studies have shown that the reduced form is probably better absorbed.
In the present study reduced CoQ10 (QH absorb, Jarrow Formulas, LA) was given for 14 days to 11
healthy volunteers, at the dosage of 100mg t.i.d., one capsule with each of the main meals. Plasma
CoQ10 levels went from 0.7+0.2 µg/ml to 5.8+1.6 µg/ml. These values are remarkably higher than the
ones recently obtained with the same dosage of the corresponding formulations of oxidised CoQ10 (1).
This finding might be of particular interest in situations where a certain threshold is required to afford
vascular protection or in clinical settings such as neurodegenerative disorders, where high CoQ10 dosages
were shown to be effective (2).
1) L. Tiano et al. Europ. Heart Jour. 2007 (18):2249-55
2) CW Shults et al. Exp Neurol. 2004 188(2):491-4.