Why should athletes care about getting adequate amounts of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10)? Low amounts of the vitamin-like substance responsible for practically all energy production in the body could severely compromise athletic performance.

When athletes train, their bodies increase the number of mitochondria—which are the powerhouses of cells—in the heart and the muscle. At the same time, the body’s biosynthesis of CoQ10 grows, but that requires more of the “building blocks” to create it. Because the body is in such high need of energy during physical activity, CoQ10 can get used up rather quickly if not present in adequate amounts. In fact, it’s fairly common for trained athletes to have lower amounts of CoQ10 because of the huge demand during exercise.

Plus, although the human body makes plenty of its own CoQ10, production declines with age. Other ways athletes may be getting too little CoQ10 from their diets is if they are vegetarian or if they take it with high doses of vitamin E. In addition, not getting enough of selenium, vitamin B6, and magnesium could limit natural production of CoQ10; and taking cholesterol-lowering drugs such as statins could block production altogether.

How does CoQ10 support optimal athletic performance? Supplementing with CoQ10 has already shown increases in maximal oxygen uptake (VO2-max), meaning oxygen is getting to cells faster so they can function properly. Also, because CoQ10 plays a role in recycling vitamin E, supplementation may naturally lead to increased amounts of vitamin E. Vitamin E assists with the production of red blood cells, helping to get oxygen to the various tissues and organs of the body. That’s a good thing for energy, but also heart health!

Now, a randomized, placebo-controlled trial has found that a higher dosage of 300 mg of CoQ10 in its form as ubiquinol has shown an increase in power of more than 2.5 percent in comparison to placebo in 100 German male and female Olympic athletes. The researchers measured power by testing blood lactate (a predictor of performance) and work output on a stationary bicycle after three and six weeks.

If you think “more than 2.5 percent” doesn’t sound like much, to these ultra-competitive athletes it could mean a significant improvement of short-term maximum performance that could be the difference between winning bronze, silver, or gold.

The increased CoQ10 amount in the mitochondria in heart and muscle could also mean improved conditioning and faster recovery times after training. Not to mention, there are increasingly more and more studies finding CoQ10 supplementation leads to lower oxidative stress in the body and better long-term heart health.

It is interesting to note that in early studies done in human athletes CoQ10 didn’t appear to have much of a benefit in terms of increasing concentration or performance. These results may have been simply due to problems with absorption – CoQ10 is difficult to absorb in certain forms. For example, the average absorption of typical CoQ10 powder is at only about 1 percent (so if you take 100 milligram, you only absorb 1 milligram).

The one question arising from this study is whether or not using the reduced form ubiquinol is really necessary to see results from CoQ10. The fact is that it is not; after all, the reduced form simply becomes oxidized in the gut. The main thing to focus on is absorbing enough coQ10 every time with one supplement.

There are many ways athletes can improve their absorption of CoQ10 – such as taking the supplement with a meal containing some fats – but your best bet is getting a product already pre-packaged in a base that is shown clinically to enhance absorption. Isagenix CytoActives is a supplement that was designed using a patent-pending, lipid-solubilized, stabilized CoQ10 that has shown eight times greater absorption in clinical studies. Greater absorption leads to greater plasma concentrations and greater amounts in the heart and muscle, where athletes need it for powering their performance.

 

Reference

Dietmar A, Schmidt ME, Siebrecht SC. Ubiquinol supplementation enhances peak power production in trained athletes: a double-blind, placebo controlled study. Journal of International Society for Sports Nutrition. doi: 10.1186/1550-2783-10-24