Coenzyme Q10 Facts or Fabrications

When Ubiquinol the reduced form of CoQ10 entered the US commercial market the manufacturers claimed that they had discovered a way to make the product stable so it could be used as a food or nutritional supplement. 

Several marketing groups also claimed that the product was stable and could be used in softgel delivery as free CoQ10 molecules in water and or lipid based solutions as liposomes, micelles or nanoparticles. It was also claimed that Ubiquinol was the most bioactive form of CoQ10 and that preferred by the body in that and that it made up 90-95% of the total body CoQ10. The absorption and bioavailability was claimed to be 300% better than of the oxidixed (Ubiquinone) forms of CoQ10. The information provided to the consumers led to a general feeling or understanding that the oxidized form that had been in the market for three decades was an inferior compound and not the product form the body preferred - and thus they should consider switching to the new reduced and bioactive product form.

Obviously, this marketing approach, and the claims made, created controversies among and between CoQ10 scientists around the world and the marketing groups. These controversies led to editorials...