Electron carrier
Ubiquinone/ubiquinol
Also searched as Ubiquinone/ubiquinol.
One of the few supplements with a hard clinical endpoint: across 33 randomized trials and 2,350 patients, supplementation reduced mortality (RR 0.64) and heart-failure hospitalization (RR 0.50), improving ejection fraction, bnp and six-minute walk distance. Endogenous synthesis runs through the mevalonate pathway, so statin therapy lowers it.
In depth
Ubiquinone/ubiquinol — essential to the mitochondrial respiratory chain and a lipid-soluble antioxidant.
What drives it
Cholesterol synthesis pathway increases it.
One precursor, two products - this is why statins deplete CoQ10. Blocking HMG-CoA reductase lowers cholesterol and everything else built from the same branch point. Mechanistic and unavoidable. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism and clinical reviews (PMC9967593; doi 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755; PMC12293478; PMC7005133). Verbatim: “Statins block the production of farnesyl pyrophosphate, an intermediate in the mevalonate pathway, which is responsible for the production of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10)”. doi 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755 · PMID 30032220 · PMC9967593
Cellular aging reduces it.
Endogenous synthesis declines with age. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism and clinical reviews. doi 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755 · PMC9967593
What it drives
It increases Mitochondrial energy.
Ubiquinone is an obligatory electron carrier in the respiratory chain. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism and clinical reviews. doi 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755 · PMC9967593
It increases Cardiac output.
Across 33 randomized trials and 2,350 patients, supplementation reduced mortality (RR 0.64) and heart-failure hospitalization (RR 0.50), improving ejection fraction, BNP and six-minute walk distance. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism and clinical reviews (PMC9967593; doi 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755; PMC12293478; PMC7005133). Verbatim: “This study has shown that coenzyme Q10 reduced all-cause mortality and hospitalization for heart failure as well as increased LVEF in patients with heart failure”. doi 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755 · PMID 39462324 · PMC9967593
It reduces Oxidative stress.
Ubiquinol is a lipid-soluble antioxidant in its own right. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism and clinical reviews. doi 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755 · PMC9967593
It increases Physical performance.
Six-minute walk distance improved in the heart-failure trial set. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism and clinical reviews. doi 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755 · PMC9967593
It reduces Neurovascular calm.
Seven randomized trials involving 510 patients: five studies (329 patients) showed significant reduction in monthly migraine frequency favoring CoQ10 (MD -0.84, p=0.04); the Sandor RCT reported a 50%-responder rate of 47.6% vs 14.4% placebo, number-needed-to-treat 3. doi 10.1186/s10194-015-0516-6 · PMID 15728298 · PMC7786797
Blends that modulate it
Each blend page names this pathway and carries the study behind its claim.
See it on the map
Open the causal map to follow this pathway upstream and downstream, arrow by arrow, each with its study.