CoQ10 Reduces Muscular Injury in Athletes

IBARAKI, Japan—In a recent double blind, Japanese study, coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) supplementation abated exercise-induced muscular injury in athletes (Brit J Nutr. 2008) (DOI: 10.1017/S0007114508926544). Eighteen male Japanese kendo athletes were randomly assigned to either 300 mg/d of CoQ10 for 20 days (n=10) or a placebo in the same dosage (n=8). During the experimental period, subjects practiced kendo for five-and-a-half hours per day for six days. Serum creatine kinase (CK) activity and myoglobin (Mb) concentration significantly increased in both groups (at day three and five). Serum CK and Mb concentration, at day three, and lipid peroxide, at day three and five, of the CoQ10 group were lower than the placebo group. The leucocyte counts in the placebo group significantly increased at day three and neutrophils significantly increased in both groups at day three and five. The serum scavenging activity against superoxide anion didn’t change in either group.