Dear Friends,
When it comes to heart health, we’re often reminded to think about cholesterol, blood pressure, and exercise. All very important.
Today, I want to focus on something many people don’t think about when it comes to heart health - energy.
Your heart beats about 100,000 times every single day – and often more if you’re very active.
Your heart is constantly pumping blood to every part of your body, from head to toe.
It’s estimated that the heart may pump up to 10 tons of blood every single day – that’s extraordinary when you think about it. And your heart never rests.
To do this, the heart requires a lot of energy.
You may be familiar with cell mitochondria – these are the tiny energy factories located in our cells.
A single heart muscle cell can contain thousands of mitochondria working to produce ATP nonstop. ATP stands for Adenosine Triphosphate - the molecule that powers nearly every cellular process in the body.
And that’s exactly where ubiquinol, the active form of CoQ10, becomes critically important, because ubiquinol plays a direct role in the creation of ATP.
And if heart cells don’t have access to adequate levels of ubiquinol, it becomes very difficult to meet the energy needs of the heart.
Ubiquinol Levels Peak Around Age 20
Unfortunately, it’s been shown that between ages 20 and 40, the amount of ubiquinol in heart cells typically declines by 40% and continues to slide as we get older.
This alone is a good reason to supplement with ubiquinol, but this form of CoQ10 does much more for your heart and cardiovascular health.
Today, we’ll summarize the top 4 ways that ubiquinol can help your heart health.
First, in case you’re not that familiar with CoQ10, it exists in virtually every cell in your body.
CoQ10 does two essential things: First, it helps generate cellular energy. Second, it acts as a powerful antioxidant.
There are two forms: ubiquinone and ubiquinol.
Ubiquinol is the active antioxidant form — and accounts for over 95% of the CoQ10 circulating in healthy blood. Ubiquinone can be converted by the body into the needed ubiquinol, but this involves a multi-step process.
And as we age — especially after 30 or 40 — our ability to convert ubiquinone into ubiquinol becomes less efficient.
Plus, at the same time, natural CoQ10 levels decline too. This creates a challenge for our overall health, but especially for the heart.
So let’s get in to the four ways ubiquinol supports heart health.
#1 Fueling the Heart’s Energy Production
Your heart only has about 10 seconds of stored ATP at any moment.
That means it must constantly generate energy through mitochondrial activity. Ubiquinol plays a direct role in the electron transport chain — the process that produces ATP.
When ubiquinol levels are sufficient, energy production is efficient, heart muscle cells contract effectively and the heart pumps blood more efficiently.
One measure that heart health professionals use to determine how well heart muscle is functioning is the ejection fraction — which is the percentage of blood pushed out of the heart with each beat.
In general, a higher ejection fraction rate indicates better function than a lower rate.
Research has shown that supplementing with ubiquinol can help support and maintain healthy ejection fraction levels
#2 Protecting Heart Cell Mitochondria from Oxidative Stress
Energy production also creates unwanted free radicals as a byproduct of the process.
And because the heart generates so much ATP, it generates significant amounts of these free radicals.
If not neutralized, those reactive oxygen species can damage mitochondrial membranes, cellular proteins, and energy efficiency.
Ubiquinol sits inside mitochondrial membranes and neutralizes free radicals right where they’re produced.
In essence, it helps protect the very machinery that powers every heartbeat.
Even better, ubiquinol also helps regenerate vitamin E — another antioxidant that protects cell membranes and LDL particles.
As we age, that antioxidant recycling system becomes even more important, and ubiquinol works to play a key role in protecting against damaging oxidative stress.
#3 Protecting LDL Cholesterol from Oxidation
The antioxidant powers of ubiquinol can also help protect LDL cholesterol from oxidation.
LDL sometimes gets a bad rap, but it is not in itself inherently harmful.
LDL’s job is to transport cholesterol to cells – where cholesterol serves as a building block for hormones and cells among other things.
The issue arises when LDL becomes oxidized. Oxidized LDL behaves very differently and can contribute to vascular health issues and damage the lining of arteries and blood vessels.
This is why researchers look at both LDL cholesterol scores and oxidized LDL levels.
Here’s how ubiquinol can help.
Ubiquinol travels in the bloodstream attached to LDL particles. While there, it helps protect LDL from oxidative damage.
In fact, research shows ubiquinol may even protect LDL from oxidation even more efficiently than vitamin E.
This is another good reason to maintain healthy ubiquinol levels.
#4 Support Nitric Oxide & Healthy Blood Flow
The endothelium —which is the inner lining of your blood vessels — produces nitric oxide, which signals vessels to relax and widen.
When oxidative stress increases, nitric oxide levels can decline, blood vessels may lose flexibility and healthy blood circulation can be affected.
Ubiquinol supports nitric oxide production by reducing oxidative stress and supporting the enzyme responsible for nitric oxide synthesis.
Healthy nitric oxide levels help maintain vascular flexibility, proper dilation, and smooth blood flow.
Clinically, this is often assessed through flow-mediated dilation, a measure of vascular responsiveness.
In published studies, ubiquinol supplementation has been shown to support healthy flow-mediated dilation.
The Form of CoQ10 Matters
Those are the 4 main ways that ubiquinol works to bolster heart and cardiovascular health.
And since natural CoQ10 levels peak around age 20, it makes sense for most adults to fortify what our bodies make with a quality ubiquinol supplement
The form of CoQ10 you take really matters.
We recommend choosing ubiquinol over ubiquinone, especially after age 30 when your body’s conversion of ubiquinone to ubiquinol becomes less reliable.
Ubiquinol requires no conversion, is already in the active form and is more bioavailable than ubiquinone.
It’s simply more ready for the job.
When it comes to ubiquinol, sourcing matters, and we recommend choosing Kaneka Ubiquinol, the ingredient used in the majority of published human studies.
Kaneka Ubiquinol is:
- produced through natural fermentation.
- bioidentical to what your body produces.
- backed by more than 85 human research studies.
- and manufactured under strict quality standards.
Formulation Goes Beyond Just the Raw Ingredient.
In TrueCoQ10, we provide 100 mg of Kaneka Ubiquinol® per soft gel.
But we also incorporate an advanced delivery system designed to do two critical things:
One, increase absorption and bioavailability in the blood, and two, stabilize ubiquinol in its active form.
Ubiquinol is the reduced, antioxidant form — but if it isn’t properly protected, it can oxidize back to ubiquinone before you ever take it. Stability matters.
In a randomized, double-blind study published in the Journal of Functional Foods, the formulation in TrueCoQ10 demonstrated a 4.3-fold greater increase in blood plasma levels compared to a standard CoQ10 formulation at the same 100 mg dose.
It means the delivery system doesn’t just preserve ubiquinol — it helps more of it reach circulation.
And when blood levels rise, the heart has greater access to the energy and antioxidant support it depends on.
If you’re an adult just starting, taking 200 mg daily can help build levels initially, and 100 mg daily is often sufficient for maintenance.
As always, we recommend letting your physician know about the supplements you’re taking, as individual needs vary.
When you look at heart health through the lens of energy, oxidative balance, and blood flow — ubiquinol sits right at the intersection of all three.
If you’re over 30 — and thinking long-term — ubiquinol is foundational support for your heart, the organ that never rests.
Yours for Good Health,
Carl Pradelli
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