Why Pharma Nord Ubiquinol CoQ10?

If taken as recommended ( 1-3 capsules per day):

• 60 capsules – 20 day supply (based on 3 capsules per day)
• 150 capsules – 50 day supply (based on 3 capsules per day)

Ubiquinol is produced naturally within young and healthy bodies. Therefore, it’s recommended that men and women over the age of 40 should consider taking an ubiquinol CoQ10 supplement.

There is now a great deal of evidence from scientific studies on the consequences of this effect. The type of medication in question is commonly referred to as "statins".

Statins are a class of cholesterol-lowering drugs that act by inhibiting the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase, which reduces the body's production of the substance mevalonate. From mevalonate, several substances are formed in the liver, including cholesterol and Q10. You cannot lower the body's cholesterol production in this way without also lowering its production of Q10.

There are different types of statins working in different ways, and they are not equally strong. The most common complaint about the adverse effects of statins is muscle pain. The pain occurs when the muscles have to work with too little energy. 

However, not everybody experiences adverse effects from statins. The effect differs from individual to individual depending on how much Q10 is required to normalize the body's Q10 level during statin treatment.

You must monitor your own body's needs.

The body produces Q10 on its own and because there is Q10 in almost any diet, it is seemingly impossible to categorize supplementation with Q10 as doping.

Q10 acts as a coenzyme (supporting enzyme) in the cells and thus also in the muscles' energy production mitochondria. We can produce some Q10 in the liver, and, in addition we get minor amounts of Q10 from the diet. Many athletes do take supplements of Q10 to counteract declining Q10 levels, and the Q10 supplements are not categorised as doping.

Most people will experience an effect of Q10 supplementation, either directly or indirectly. Many so-called energy-based products get their effect from caffeine and caffeine-like substances from various plants that stimulate the adrenal glands to secrete stress hormones. 

Coenzyme q10, on the other hand, is present in all body cells and is part of the cells' natural way of producing energy. Thus, the biochemical processes in the body and the experience are not the same for these two different types of products.

 The fact that you may not feel an immediate effect of Q10 may also be due to one or more of the following factors:

• You are taking a Q10 product with low bioavailability
• You take your Q10 between meals and not together with fat
• You have reduced fat absorption from the gut
• You are so young that your Q10 level is still high
• You are taking medicines that reduce the body's own production of Q10 to a degree that requires a higher compensatory Q10 dosage
• You take Q10 for supper and will therefore only experience the maximum level in the blood at night while you are sleeping (it takes approx. 6 hours from ingestion until Q10 reaches its maximum level in the blood)
• You need more time. It can take a month or longer before the body's tissues are sufficiently saturated with Q10
• You need a higher dose

To date, more than 40 scientific studies have been published, showing that, once it has been absorbed, the ubiquinone form of Q10 has a relatively good bioavailability and efficacy. However, not much evidence has been published on the bioavailability and efficacy of QH (ubiquinol).

Various Q10 products are available either as tablets or as capsules. The Q10 content may be in the form of crystals or granules, encapsulated in liposomes, in micelles attached to nanoparticles or dissolved in oil.

The size alone of the Q10 molecule (approx. 5.5 nm long and 864 times heavier than a hydrogen atom) means that Q10 is basically not an easily absorbed substance. The Q10 raw material is an organic orange brown crystalline powder and Q10 crystals are too large to be absorbed into the body. The uptake of unprocessed Q10 powder and of tablets is therefore very poor.

In addition, Q10 is a fat-soluble substance that has to be absorbed in the small intestine along with fat. It is possible to attach other substances to the Q10 molecule that will make it somewhat more water-soluble, but doing so will make the big Q10 molecule even bigger, whereby the advantage disappears, and the Q10 complex will still largely be fat-soluble.

It sounds impressive to state that a Q10 product is three times more absorbable than a competing product, but if the competing product simply consists of Q10 crystals with a less than 1% absorption rate, the claim is not particularly impressive.

Producers of Q10 supplements have to treat the Q10 raw material in a special way in order to achieve an effective absorption. The most bioavailable Q10 products are dissolved in a vegetable oil in which the crystals must be dissolved completely.

Cereal products usually contain coenzyme Q9, whereas soybeans do contain some coenzyme Q10. There is also some Q10 in walnuts, almonds, oil-rich fruits and green vegetables, especially spinach. 

Furthermore, fish contains Q10, especially sardines, which contain twice as much Q10 as beef. Even so, one would have to eat one pound of sardines, two pounds of beef, or 2.5 pounds of peanuts in order to get 30mg of Q10.

Typically, there is somewhere between 5-10mg of Q10 in the food we eat on a daily basis. Most individuals probably get around 5mg a day.

It is possible to increase the body's own production of coenzyme Q10 by exercising and by optimising the intake of nutrients.

The cell's production of Q10 is a complex process involving many biochemical steps. In order for the body to produce coQ10, there is a need for a vitamin B complex, vitamins C and E, selenium, magnesium and several trace elements. 

A lack of one or more of these nutrients will affect the body's Q10 production considerably. An increase in available Q10 in the body will usually be larger with the aid of even a small daily supplement of Q10.

Q10 is best known for its oxidised form ubiquinone, introduced in Europe shortly after 1990. Globally, ubiquinone has also been the only form of Q10 whose effect has been documented in scientific studies. 

Ubiquinol, the reduced form of Q10, was first brought to market in 2006. Since then, ubiquinol has been marketed as active Q10 although it's no more active than ubiquinone. Almost all documentation on the prevention and treatment of Q10 deficiency states has been performed with ubiquinone.

At the molecular level, ubiquinol has two extra hydrogen molecules and forms, in conjunction with oxygen, and so-called hydroxyl group on the head of the Q10 molecule, which is a quinone ring. 

The two forms of Q10, however, have quite different roles in the body. Ubiquinol donates electrons, whereas ubiquinone receives electrons. 

Ubiquinol performs an important function as an antioxidant in the body, but in the cells' energy producing mitochondria, the two forms constantly switch from the one form to the other - that is, from the oxidised to the reduced and back again. Thus, one cannot say that one form of Q10 is more active or more important than the other.

Appearance differences can be seen below, it is therefore easy to test whether the product you buy is normal or reduced Q10. The Q10 that we produce in the body's cells is oxidised Q10, whereas 90-95% of Q10 circulating in the blood is in the form of reduced Q10.

Video: The difference between the two forms of Q10

Q10 is generally considered a safe substance.

Long-term studies of more than 5 years, as well as studies with daily doses, have shown that it is safe to take supplements of Q10 for a long period.

After discontinuation of supplementation, the body's Q10 level will return to the same level as before the start of supplementation. This shows that Q10 supplementation does not affect the body's own production of the substance.

Since Q10 is fat-soluble substance, it is important to take it with a meal that contains some fat. The effect is observed after a short-term use and is felt most acutely approx. 6 hours after ingestion. 

Therefore, Q10 should most effectively be taken with breakfast, perhaps lunch. If you take more than 1 capsule of ubiquinone per day, the absorbability will be larger if you spread the dose throughout the day - i.e. 1 capsule at breakfast and 1 capsule at lunch time.

Furthermore, you can take a supplement of the amino acid carnitine, which interacts closely with Q10 in the cells' mitochondria. Carnitine helps with the transport of fatty acids into the mitochondria, and Q10 is involved in the oxidation process that converts these fatty acids into energy in the form of ATP.

You can cut a small hole in the soft gel capsules with a pair of scissors and squeeze the content of the capsule out in a spoon or directly into your mouth. However a small residue of Q10 will remain on the inside of the capsule using this method.

Generally not, but in a few instances people have experienced broken sleep after taking Q10 in the evening. If you should experience this it is recommended to take your Q10 at breakfast or lunch.

Ideally, leaving around 3 hours between each capsule can help improve the absorption. 

Relative to the food we eat, the size of individual nutrients are actually incredibly small. As a result, we need to use units other than grammes (g) to describe them. Here’s what the common units for nutrients are:

Grammes (G)- often used to describe nutritional powders. Most teaspoons of powder weigh approximately 5g.

Milligrams (Mg)- 1000mg is equal to 1g

Micrograms (Mcg or μg)- 1000μg is equal to 1mg

International Units (IU)- Slightly more complex than milligrams (mg) and micrograms (μg), International Units measure differently from nutrient to nutrient. The most common nutrients that are likely to be measured in IU are vitamins D, E and A.

• Vitamin D: 1 IU is the equivalent of 0.025 μg of D2 or D3
• Vitamin A: 1 IU is the equivalent of 0.3 mcg retinol
• Beta-carotene (provitamin A): 1 IU is the equivalent of 0.6 μg of beta carotene
• Vitamin E: 1 IU is the equivalent of 0.67 mg d-alpha-tocopherol

Ideally, leaving around 3 hours between each capsule can help improve the absorption.