Coenzyme Q10: what it actually does in the body

Metabolite Encyclopedia › Energy metabolism

CoQ10 is not a vitamin and not a fuel. It is a carrier. It ferries electrons between two fixed stations inside your mitochondria, hands them over, and goes back for more.

Also calledUbiquinone, ubiquinol
Made inYour own cells, all of them
Named forBeing ubiquitous in tissue
Also acts asA fat-soluble antioxidant

Three things worth knowing

Its name means “everywhere.” When researchers went looking for it in the 1950s they found it in every tissue of every organism they tested, so they called it ubiquinone. Concentration tracks workload. Heart, kidney and liver carry the most.

It is not consumed, it flips. CoQ10 exists in an oxidized form and a reduced form and switches between them continuously. The same molecule can carry electrons thousands of times. That same flip is what makes it an antioxidant inside cell membranes, where water-soluble antioxidants cannot reach.

It is built on the same assembly line as cholesterol. The first half of CoQ10 synthesis is the mevalonate pathway, the same sequence of steps the body uses to make cholesterol. Two molecules with completely different jobs, sharing a production line.

Complexes I, II and III are embedded in the membrane and cannot move. CoQ10 is the piece that travels between them.

How a carrier works

Nothing is used up. The molecule cycles between two states, which is why a small amount can carry an enormous amount of traffic.

Where you meet it in food

Organ meats
Sardines
Mackerel
Beef
Peanuts
Soybean oil

Food contributes a small fraction of what is in your tissues. Nearly all of your CoQ10 is built by your own cells rather than eaten.

The honest part: CoQ10’s role in energy production is textbook and not in dispute. Its relationship to sleep is not established, and nothing here should be read as suggesting one. The frequently repeated line that tissue levels decline with age is an observation about measurement, not a finding about sleep.

Questions people actually ask

Is coenzyme Q10 a vitamin?

No. A vitamin is something your body cannot make and has to eat. Your cells build CoQ10 themselves.

What is the difference between ubiquinone and ubiquinol?

They are the same molecule in two states. Ubiquinone is the oxidized form, ubiquinol is the reduced form, and it flips between them constantly as part of doing its job.

Why is it called ubiquinone?

Because it was found to be ubiquitous, present in every tissue and organism examined. The quinone part describes its chemical structure.

Is it found in mushrooms?

It appears in AHARA's metabolomic map of its Reishi and Lion's Mane elixirs, which is how it ended up in this encyclopedia.

Coenzyme Q10 is one of more than 2,000 metabolites AHARA mapped across its Reishi and Lion's Mane elixirs. You can browse the rest of what is in the bottle.

Open the Metabolite Encyclopedia

References
Bentinger M, Tekle M, Dallner G. Coenzyme Q, biosynthesis and functions. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2010;396(1):74-79. doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2010.02.147
Hidaka T, Fujii K, Funahashi I, et al. Safety assessment of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). Biofactors. 2008;32(1-4):199-208. doi:10.1002/biof.5520320124

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.