CoQ10 -- are all brands the same

[peter s]

I have been taking Life Extension Foundation Ubiquinol 100 mg per day (supposedly equivalent to up to 800 mg of regular CoQ10, hmmm) but it is getting awfully expensive. Is there really any difference among brands if they are all licensed by Kaneka and what do people here think about the various forms, e.g. ubiquinol, QGel, chewable, etc. etc. etc. Trying to find the right long term solution as even though I am off Lipitor with no apparent side effects, this seems a good thing to do in general.

[Brian C.]

Kaneka brought the process from Merck and have two factories that I know of, one in Japan and one in Texas. Kaneka is the only source to trust so I only buy CoQ10 products with Kaneka labelling. At the present that's Healthy Origins 300mg gelcaps from iHerb.com, which I now chew rather than swallow following on recommendation from Dr Langsjoen passed on by Brooks. I think the other important factor is that oil is the medium used, Healthy Origins use olive oil so are quite tasty I find.

The collapse of the pound is quite worrying for us in the UK who have to import so many of our supplements because of lack of domestic availability, not only because items have become more expensive but also because we are more likely to exceed the 18GBP personal import limit thus becoming liable to be clobbered by 15% tax plus Royal Mail's 8GBP administration fee. We could be looking at a doubling of our costs.

Brian.

[peter s]

As I understand it the big issue with CoQ10 is bioavailability. When QGel came out there were claims it was much more bioavailable than the previous forms, and then similar claims were made for ubiquinol over any ubiquinone product including QGel. I tend to trust Life Extension Foundation but their supplements are very expensive compared to say Swanson or vitacost.com

[starfish]

Does anyone know what CoQ10 “ubidecarenone USP” is? I’ve taken CoQ10 Q-Gel Mega (both ubiquinol and ubiquinone) before, but I never heard of this other type -- ubidecarenone. When I re-ordered from Vitacost, this is the new type of CoQ10 that they sent me. I was wondering if it is equally effective? Thanks.

[Ray Holder]

I believe ubidecarenone to be just another name for Q10 .Certainly when I started taking it 7 years ago, the Scaglia paper on Carnitine deficiency recommended Q10 as an adjunct, and ubidecarenone was one of the alternatibve names given for Q10 even then.

Ray

[peter s]

From Yahoo Answers

Ubiquinone and Ubidecarenone are they different CoQ10’s?

No, Ubiquinone and Ubidecarenone are NOT different CoQ10’s. Ubiquinone and Ubidecarenone are different names for the same substance – Coenzyme Q10 or CoQ10.

Ubiquinone is a generic name.

Ubidecarenone is the official name in the USP (United States Pharmacopeial Convention).

[starfish]

Thanks Ray and Peter S. I just wanted to be sure the CoQ10 that I received would be equally effective.

[Ray Holder]

BrianC and I had been in correspondence over the effect of changes in the rate of exchange and Q10 and carnitine costs here in UK. I had been doing a bit of research into Q10 sources, and I came upon this link which gives an interesting light upon the various and less reliable sources and types of Q10. Much seems to be made by the cis process, using tobacco, which is not as pure, and has the cis portion left in the finished product.
*http://www.asiafoodjournal.com/article-3630-coenzymeq10questionsneedinganswers-Asia.html

I found another one from Korea which spoke of a method of manufacture employing mutant bacteria to do the necessary transformation, but I recall a Dr A S Gissen, who died at a fairly young age, author of a very good article on Q10, who discovered that a certain product made by a similar process had become lethal because the bacteria had mutated again, and the product had changed!!!

Also

*http://www.naturesnutrition.com/SKU/32071.htm is another {trade) link, go to "Is all Q10 the same" fairly well down on the page, where two paragraphs point out the differences between end products

Ray

[Brian C.]

As Ray knows I ordered 7 grams of trans-isomer CoQ10 from UK seller Blissful Foods, trading on eBay as brainfoods2007. After only two days of using this my myopathy returned and I felt as if I was back on Lipitor. It was a relief to get back to Kaneka-origin gel caps and pain-free days again.
This seller also tried to muddy the water by associating the synthetic form, idebenone, with the reduced form recently introduced by Kaneka, which they call Ubiquinol.

He also said "too much will make your muscles ache"!

Stay well away is my advice.

Brian.

[adec]

I personally would supplement with ubiquinone in its oxidized form. Save your money and instead invest in a good antioxidant like astaxanthin, or perhaps mixed vitamin E. Take them together.

There are also other ways to increase CoQ10 bioavailability, such as: soft-gels, and injesting a good choline source, such as phosphatidylcholine, or alpha GPC. There's a fair amount of science behind these opinions, if anyone is interested.