It has been relatively easy to find CoQ10 supplements on the market since the 1980s, but ubiquinol is relatively new. Understandably, people are confused, wondering which supplement will have the most benefits.
But first, before this question can be answered, it can be very helpful to understand what CoQ10 is and what it does.
The fact is, there is little difference between ubiquinol and CoQ10; the former is actually a “reduced,” or refined form of the latter. Some people find it helps to compare CoQ10 and ubiquinol to crude oil and high-test gasoline. Oil is a very useful substance, but only once it has been through a refining process.
CoQ10 is an “energy carrier,” responsible for the smooth functioning of the metabolic process. By serving to carry electrons from one place to another within cells, this naturally-occurring biochemical plays a significant part in the conversion of nutrients into energy with the use of oxygen molecules. In a fully reduced state, CoQ10 actually turns into ubiquinol, which ‘ like the substances found in berries and other fresh fruits and vegetables ‘ is a powerful antioxidant.
Antioxidants as you know are thought to slow the aging process by protecting cells from damage by “free radicals,” unstable oxygen molecules that cause rust and corrosion in the outside world. When these cells are damaged and unable to reproduce when they die off, people begin to develop a host of degenerative diseases that are tied to aging. Ubiquinol, the “purified” form of CoQ10, is an antioxidant that occurs naturally in our youth. Levels of ubiquinol start to go down dramatically after age thirty, however. Part of the reason is that the supply of CoQ10 starts to go down at that point in our lives; another reason is that it becomes increasingly difficult to convert CoQ10 into its ubiquinol form as we get older.
For more in-depth information on the Ubiquinol vs. CoQ10 question and why the former is actually more effective, visit Ubiquinol.org on the World Wide Web.