Which Q10 product on the American market is the best buy? You don’t know. But you can see which Q10 products have been tested for effect in gold standard studies.
My friends and colleagues ask me sometimes: is the Coq10 product that was used in the Q-Symbio study the best Coenzyme Q10 product? And they are surprised when I don’t say, immediately, yes, yes, of course. I am cautious. I don’t want to claim to know something that I cannot know with certainty. Could there be a better Q10 product on the market? Possibly. I don’t know for sure. It’s best never to say never, right? But …
Q10 produced according to medicine standards
What I have found out is that the profile of the Q-Symbio Study CoQ10 treatment is unique. The Danish producer, Pharma Nord, seems to be one of the few food supplement suppliers in the US that is producing a Q10 product according to medicine standards rather than food supplement standards.
Q10 for people who care about quality
The target group for Pharma Nord seems to be people who really care about quality.
- The quality of the raw material
- The quality of the manufacturing process
- The quality of the research
- The extent of the absorption and the effect
Q10 tested in double-blind studies
The thing that sets the Bio-Quinone formulation apart in my mind is that it has been tested in randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies:
- The Q-Symbio study of chronic heart failure patients
- The KiSel-10 study of healthy elderly people
- The Gulf War Veterans study of military service men and women
Pharma Nord has compared its Bio-Quinone product with a placebo product in clinical trials in which neither the researchers nor the patients knew until the end of the study who was getting the real thing and who was getting the faux product. Pharma Nord’s Bio-Quinone has been tested in human studies at a high level.
Betting the ranch on its Q10 product
Pharma Nord bet the ranch on its product, so to speak. Not just once but three times in important published studies and more often in smaller published studies. For example, Pharma Nord has also tested Bio-Quinone to make sure that it is safe for type 1 diabetics and type 2 diabetics to take and that it is safe for people on the warfarin blood thinner to take (2,3,4). The Q10 and diabetes research is especially important now that we have seen evidence that taking a statin medication raises the risk of getting type 2 diabetes (1).
I cannot say for certain which Q10 product has the best quality or is the best buy until all the products have been tested using the same methods:
- Randomized sampling of patients
- Double blinding of the researchers and patients
- Comparison with a placebo group
- Adequate sample size
Lots of unknown quality on the Q10 market
Until all of the products have been tested in scientifically solid studies, I can’t answer my friends unequivocally that the Coenzyme Q10 used in the Q-Symbio study is the best product. Theoretically, one of the cheaper products might be better than the Pharma Nord Bio-Quinone Q10.
So, yes, sure, maybe you can get a better deal when you buy the cheaper product. You don’t know for sure. But when you buy the product that has been tested and documented for effect, then you know what you are getting.
Q10 question to ask yourself
When you go to the store, all you can do is compare a known quality with a bunch of unknown qualities. The question you have to ask yourself is whether you are happy enough with an unknown quality. If your answer is yes, then, okay, you should buy the cheapest Q10 you can find.
Quality costs a little more
For my part, I think that good-quality research and development, good-quality raw materials, and good-quality manufacturing processes are necessarily going to cost a little more money than the retail price of the cheaper Q10 products on the market.
Ubiquinone Q10 more researched than Ubiquinol QH2
In the same way, I am equally cautious at present about switching from the ubiquinone product Bio-Quinone to a ubiquinol product. I simply have not seen persuasive research results on the effects of taking the ubiquinol products. For me, studies showing statistically significant effects are more important than claims of absorption and bio-availability.
Sources:
- Cederberg H1, Stančáková A, Yaluri N, Modi S, Kuusisto J, Laakso M. (2015, Mar 10). Increased risk of diabetes with statin treatment is associated with impaired insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion: a 6 year follow-up study of the METSIM cohort. Diabetologia.
- Eriksson JG1, Forsén TJ, Mortensen SA, Rohde M. (1999). The effect of coenzyme Q10 administration on metabolic control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Biofactors;9(2-4):315-8.
- Henriksen JE, Andersen CB, Hother-Nielsen O, Vaag A, Mortensen SA, Beck-Nielsen H. (1999, Apr). Impact of ubiquinone (coenzyme Q10) treatment on glycaemic control, insulin requirement and well-being in patients with Type 1 diabetes mellitus. Diabet Med.;16(4):312-8.
- Engelsen, J., Nielsen, J. D., & Winther, K. (2002). Effect of coenzyme Q10 and Ginkgo biloba on warfarin dosage in stable, long-term warfarin treated outpatients. A randomised, double blind, placebo-crossover trial. Thrombosis And Haemostasis, 87(6), 1075-1076.
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