Ubiquinol-10 Intake Is Effective in Relieving Mild Fatigue in Healthy Individuals

Abstract

Our double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluated effects of ubiquinol, the reduced form of coenzyme Q10, on mild fatigue in healthy individuals experiencing fatigue in daily life that had continued for more than 1 and less than 6 months. The participants received 100-mg/day (Ubq100; age 44.0 ± 9.8 years; 14 females and 6 males) or 150-mg/day ubiquinol (Ubq150; age 40.4 ± 11.8 years; 14 females and 8 males) or placebo (Plc; age 41.3 ± 13.4 years; 13 females and 7 males) daily for 12 weeks. Measurements of subjective and objective fatigue were conducted by using questionnaires-based fatigue scales/visual analogue scales and autonomic nerve function/biological oxidation index, respectively, prior to the first dosing and every 4 weeks thereafter. Serum ubiquinol level increased three- to four-fold after 4 weeks and remained significantly higher than that after Plc administration throughout the intake period. Although a higher blood level of ubiquinol was observed with Ubq150 than with Ubq100, the difference was not statistically significant. In both Ubq100 and Ubq150 groups, subjective levels of fatigue sensation and sleepiness after cognitive tasks, which consisted of the modified Advanced Trail Making Test, the modified Stroop Color-Word Test, and the Digit Symbol Substitution Test, improved significantly compared with those in the placebo group, suggesting an anti-fatigue effect. The Ubq150 group demonstrated significant improvement compared with the Plc group regarding subjective level of relaxation after task, sleepiness before and after task, motivation for task, and serum level of oxidative stress. Correlation analysis between blood level of ubiquinol and each evaluated effect suggested a positive relationship with relaxation after task, motivation for cognitive task, and parasympathetic activity. The results of the study suggest that ubiquinol intake relieves mild fatigue in healthy individuals.

Effectiveness of Coenzyme Q10 Supplementation for Reducing Fatigue: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

“…The PRISMA flowchart for the literature search is shown in Figure 1 . After removing duplicate articles and excluding non-relevant articles by an examination of titles and abstracts, we ultimately included 13 RCTs in the final analysis ( Berman et al, 2004 ; Lee et al, 2011 ; Cordero et al, 2013 ; Lesser et al, 2013 ; Castro-Marrero et al, 2015 ; Fukuda et al, 2015 ; Peel et al, 2015 ; Sanoobar et al, 2016 ; Di Pierro et al, 2017 ; Morikawa et al, 2019 ; Mizuno et al, 2020 ; Mousavi et al, 2020 ; Castro-Marrero et al, 2021 ). The articles excluded in the final stage and the reasons for exclusion are listed in Supplementary Table S3 ( Singh et al, 2003 ; Langsjoen et al, 2005 ; Kumar et al, 2007 ; Mizuno et al, 2008 ; Gökbel et al, 2010 ; Cordero et al, 2012a ; Cordero et al, 2012b ; Fedacko et al, 2013 ; Gharahdaghi et al, 2013 ; Miyamae et al, 2013 ; Castro-Marrero et al, 2016 ; Fukuda et al, 2016 ; Iwase et al, 2016 ; Menon et al, 2017 ; Langsjoen et al, 2019 ; Moccia et al, 2019 ; Negro et al, 2019 ; Gomez-Centeno et al, 2020 ; Schweiger et al, 2020 ; Suzuki et al, 2021 ).…”

“…The study duration ranged from four ( Mousavi et al, 2020 ) to 24 weeks ( Lesser et al, 2013 ). Subject diagnoses included chronic fatigue syndrome ( Castro-Marrero et al, 2015 ; Castro-Marrero et al, 2021 ), fibromyalgia ( Cordero et al, 2013 ; Di Pierro et al, 2017 ), end-stage heart failure ( Berman et al, 2004 ), obesity ( Lee et al, 2011 ), breast cancer (with patients undergoing chemotherapy) ( Lesser et al, 2013 ), end-stage renal disease ( Fukuda et al, 2015 ), poliomyelitis ( Peel et al, 2015 ), and multiple sclerosis ( Sanoobar et al, 2016 ), and we also evaluated healthy subjects ( Morikawa et al, 2019 ) and healthy individuals with fatigue ( Mizuno et al, 2020 ; Mousavi et al, 2020 ). The details of the retrieved trials are summarized in Table 1 .…”

“…More specifically, CoQ10 with a reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) was evaluated in two of these trials ( Castro-Marrero et al, 2015 ; Castro-Marrero et al, 2021 ) and CoQ10 in a multi-vitamin nutritional drink was evaluated in the other trial ( Fukuda et al, 2015 ). Ten studies evaluated CoQ10 only ( Berman et al, 2004 ; Lee et al, 2011 ; Cordero et al, 2013 ; Lesser et al, 2013 ; Peel et al, 2015 ; Sanoobar et al, 2016 ; Di Pierro et al, 2017 ; Morikawa et al, 2019 ; Mizuno et al, 2020 ; Mousavi et al, 2020 ). The intervention details, tools for fatigue assessment, adverse events, and study withdrawals are summarized in Table 2 .…”

“…A statistically significant inverse relationship has also been found between CoQ10 levels and fatigue severity ( Maes et al, 2009a ). Thus, CoQ10 supplementation has been successfully applied for reducing fatigue in patients with various conditions, including chronic fatigue syndrome ( Castro-Marrero et al, 2015 ; Castro-Marrero et al, 2016 ; Fukuda et al, 2016 ; Castro-Marrero et al, 2021 ) and fibromyalgia ( Cordero et al, 2013 ; Miyamae et al, 2013 ; Di Pierro et al, 2017 ), as well as in healthy subjects ( Morikawa et al, 2019 ; Mizuno et al, 2020 ). However, inconsistencies in clinical outcomes have been identified across different trials.…”

Association between the total amount of electromagnetic cortical neuronal activity and a decline in motivation

“…The VAS was used to assess the levels of fatigue sensation and motivation because the procedure is simple and can be completed in a short time: It is important to collect the data regarding the levels of fatigue sensation and motivation immediately after the tasks to avoid recovery from fatigue. The VAS has been used to assess the levels of fatigue sensation and task motivation (for example Fritz & O'Connor, 2016 ; Kleih et al, 2010 ; Lee et al, 1991 ; Mizuno et al, 2020 ; Tajima et al, 2010 ; Wykowska et al, 2013 ).…”