Ubiquinol Ameliorates Endothelial Dysfunction in Subjects with Mild-to-Moderate Dyslipidemia: A Randomized Clinical Trial
What this study found
Ubiquinol improved endothelial function over 8 weeks versus placebo, with no clear dose-response between 100 mg/day and 200 mg/day. Week 8 flow-mediated dilation increased in both active groups and was higher than placebo (F = 9.145; p < 0.001), with Cohen's d of 0.89 for 200 mg/day and 1.30 for 100 mg/day, versus -0.37 for placebo; post-hoc comparison between ubiquinol doses was not significant (p = 0.88). The intervention also raised plasma CoQ10 and nitric oxide bioavailability and improved LDL oxidation lag time; mediation analysis found a significant indirect effect of plasma CoQ10 on…
- Study & population
- Randomized, double-blind clinical trial in men and post-menopausal women aged 35-65 years with mild-to-moderate dyslipidemia and moderate endothelial dysfunction, without clinical cardiovascular disease and not taking lipid-lowering therapy.
- Intervention
- Participants received oral ubiquinol (reduced CoQ10, Kaneka QH™) for 8 weeks in two active regimens: 100 mg/day or 200 mg/day, given as one capsule in the morning and one in the evening.
- Key limitation
- The active-arm per-protocol samples were small, and the trial was short at 8 weeks.
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Open PDFOriginal abstract
In this randomized, double-blind, single-center trial (ANZCTR number ACTRN12619000436178) we aimed to investigate changes in endothelium-dependent vasodilation induced by ubiquinol, the reduced form of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), in healthy subjects with moderate dyslipidemia. Fifty-one subjects with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels of 130–200 mg/dL, not taking statins or other lipid lowering treatments, moderate (2.5%–6.0%) endothelial dysfunction as measured by flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery, and no clinical signs of cardiovascular disease were randomized to receive either ubiquinol (200 or 100 mg/day) or placebo for 8 weeks. The primary outcome measure was the effect of ubiquinol supplementation on FMD at the end of the study. Secondary outcomes included changes in FMD on week 4, changes in total and oxidized plasma CoQ10 on week 4 and week 8, and changes in serum nitrate and nitrite levels (NOx), and plasma LDL susceptibility to oxidation in vitro on week 8. Analysis of the data of the 48 participants who completed the study demonstrated a significantly increased FMD in both treated groups compared with the placebo group (200 mg/day, +1.28% ± 0.90%; 100 mg/day, +1.34% ± 1.44%; p < 0.001) and a marked increase in plasma CoQ10, either total (p < 0.001) and reduced (p < 0.001). Serum NOx increased significantly and dose-dependently in all treated subjects (p = 0.016), while LDL oxidation lag time improved significantly in those receiving 200 mg/day (p = 0.017). Ubiquinol significantly ameliorated dyslipidemia-related endothelial dysfunction. This effect was strongly related to increased nitric oxide bioavailability and was partly mediated by enhanced LDL antioxidant protection.