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The cellular energy ingredient CoQ10 offers health benefits throughout the entire body, but absorption issues have plagued the nutrient; to address this, ingredient suppliers have created technologies that boost bioavailability and efficacy.
1 Min Read
The body uses coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) to create the essential energy chemical compound adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which fuels cellular metabolic activity. In the cell, CoQ10’s main role is in the mitochondria, where it helps convert fuel (food) into energy for the body to use.
With CoQ10’s ubiquity in the body, it makes sense it affects many functions, but those that require the most energy, such as the brain and the heart, seem to benefit the most from CoQ10 supplements.
CoQ10’s numerous health effects make it seem like a wonder ingredient, but there’s a catch: it’s not easily absorbed. CoQ10 is a large lipid molecule; its fat-loving nature makes it practically insoluble in water, making its absorption poor, variable and dependent on a consumer’s diet (it’s better digested with fats).
Technical advancements at several ingredient suppliers have addressed this problem by producing CoQ10 ingredients that are better absorbed.
One solution to increasing absorption of CoQ10 is to offer it in the reduced ubiquinol form, so the body doesn’t need to convert it from ubquinone in the body. However, some experts say both ubiquinone and ubiquinol are absorbed by the body, and are concerned about the increased costs of ubiquinol.
Learn more about CoQ10’s health benefits, absorption challenges and the differences between ubiquinol and ubiquinone in the article “CoQ10 Quality Quotient" in INSIDER’s Antioxidant Content Library.
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