Ultra Strength CoEnzyme Q10 300mg

Ubiquinone is the standard coenzyme Q10 in Australia and the form nearly all the research used. So the questions our naturopaths ask in store are less about the form and more about what else you take.

A good fit if

• You're an adult with a straightforward health history and you don't take warfarin or any other prescription medicine
• You want the well-researched, standard way to take coenzyme Q10 and you're happy for your body to do the conversion
• You take it with a meal containing fat and will look for a product that names its carrier oil
• You want a 50 or 75 mg starting strength, which comes in ubiquinone but not ubiquinol
• You're happy to read the label, including the warfarin warning every product taken by mouth carries

Check with us first if

• You take warfarin. The required Australian label warning says not to take it while on warfarin without medical advice. It applies to every ubidecarenone product taken by mouth.
• You take a statin. Never stop or change a prescribed statin to take a supplement. Whether coenzyme Q10 changes statin-related muscle symptoms is still unclear, so talk to your prescriber.
• You're having chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Antioxidants may make these treatments less effective, so decide this with your oncology team.
• You take theophylline, blood pressure medicines, insulin or other diabetes medicines. Interactions and added effects have been described for coenzyme Q10 in general.
• You're pregnant or planning a pregnancy. Safety data in people is limited and only from research settings, so this is a decision for your practitioner.
• You're buying for a child or teenager. Australia sets no limit for children for this ingredient, and products in store are made for adults.
• You take 200 mg a day or more. This is where nausea, heartburn and loose stools are most often reported.
• You already take a ubiquinol product. The 300 mg Australian maximum is a combined total across both forms, so taking both doesn't double it.
• You're buying from an overseas website. Those products aren't regulated by the TGA for quality and safety, and the 300 mg limit doesn't apply to them.
• You take prescription medicines of any kind. Check with your doctor, pharmacist or our naturopaths before you start.

• Ubiquinone soft capsule, 50 mg. Best known for: The lowest strength on Australian shelves, and usually the largest pack. Absorption: The dose is small enough that how much you absorb at once isn't the limit, though the oil base still matters. Typical use: A first coenzyme Q10 product, or a low daily amount you've been asked to stay on long term.
• Ubiquinone capsule in a named carrier oil, 150 mg. Best known for: The standard Australian mid-strength, and the one where the oil is actually printed on the label. Absorption: A well-suited carrier oil such as rice bran, soy or palm oil is one of the two things that decide how much you absorb. Typical use: The most common one-a-day. If a label names its oil, that tells you more than a bigger number on the front.
• Ubiquinone one-a-day, 300 mg. Best known for: The highest daily strength Australian law allows. Absorption: The most you can legally be sold in one daily dose, which isn't the same as the most you absorb at once. Typical use: Often chosen for the larger dose per capsule. It leaves no room for anything else, because 300 mg is a combined limit shared with ubiquinol.
• Ubiquinol (ubiquinol-10). The alternative form. Best known for: It arrives already in its reduced form, and has its own Schedule 1 item. Absorption: Some crossover trials measured it higher than ubiquinone, and others measured it lower than well-dispersed ubiquinone. Typical use: Covered in full on its own page, including the debate over which form absorbs better.

Reference values. None. Your body makes coenzyme Q10, so it isn't an essential nutrient and the NHMRC sets no Nutrient Reference Value, RDI or Adequate Intake for ubiquinone at any age.

Typical supplemental range. Australian ubiquinone products come in 50, 75, 100, 150 and 300 mg capsules, with 150 mg the most common strength. That range starts lower than ubiquinol's, which is part of why ubiquinone is the usual starting point: a 50 mg capsule is a real option, with no ubiquinol equivalent on our shelf.

Upper level. There's no NHMRC upper limit. Australia's limit is a legal one rather than a nutritional one, and it's quoted word for word in the Australian status section. As a guide to how well it's tolerated, the NIH StatPearls review says side effects are unlikely up to 1,200 mg a day, and notes that 100 mg a day or more has been linked to mild trouble sleeping in some people.

Worth knowing. Products with the same form and strength can differ a lot from pack to pack, so compare carrier oils and pack sizes rather than just the form. What you need depends on your age, diet and health, so talk to one of our naturopaths.

Food first, where the diet allows it.

• No food is a meaningful source of ubiquinone specifically: food coenzyme Q10 arrives as a mixture of both redox forms, in amounts a capsule dwarfs
• Meat, poultry and oily fish: the richest dietary sources of coenzyme Q10 in any form
• Soybean and canola oils, nuts and seeds: the main plant contributors, and the same oils used to suspend ubiquinone in a capsule

If any of these sound like you, talk to one of our naturopaths or your doctor before you start.

• Warfarin. Every internal-use product in Australia must carry this warning: don't take it while on warfarin without medical advice.
• Statins. Never stop or change a prescribed statin to take ubiquinone; the evidence on statin-related muscle symptoms is mixed.
• Chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Antioxidants may make treatment less effective, so you'll need your oncology team's advice.
• Theophylline, blood pressure medicines, insulin and diabetes medicines. Coenzyme Q10 has known interactions and added effects with these.
• Pregnancy. Human safety data is limited, so practitioner advice is needed.
• Breastfeeding. Don't take it; safety hasn't been established.
• Children and teenagers. There's no Australian limit set for children for this ingredient; products on the shelf are made for adults.
• Doses of 200 mg a day or more. Nausea, heartburn, diarrhoea and tummy discomfort are most often reported at this level; 100 mg a day or more has been linked to mild trouble sleeping in some people.
• Sensitivity to coenzyme Q10, soy products, sulfites, carrier oils or capsule shells, all of which Australian ubidecarenone labels declare.
• Vegans and vegetarians. At least one Australian ubidecarenone product contains an animal product; vegan capsules exist but must say so on the label.
• Taking a ubiquinone product together with a ubiquinol product. The Australian 300 mg maximum is a combined total for both forms.
• Products bought from overseas websites. They aren't TGA-regulated for quality and safety, and aren't bound by the 300 mg limit.
• Not to be included in medicines for use in the eye (permitted ingredients list).
• If you take prescription medicines, check with your doctor, pharmacist or our naturopaths before you start.