Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is made naturally in the body, but it decreases gradually as we age, and its production is blocked by certain medications, most notoriously by statins (more on that below). CoQ10 is essential to the cellular process that generates adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is the body's most basic source of energy. Adequate production of ATP is crucial to every cell in the body, but is especially vital to heart-muscle cells because they never rest. CoQ10 is also a powerful antioxidant. All antioxidants fight free radicals, which damage the membranes and DNA of cells, often to the extent of causing early cell death. Scientists believe free radicals contribute to the aging process as well as a number of health problems, including heart disease and cancer. Because CoQ10 is such a powerful antioxidant as well as increasing cellular energy, it has been long touted by alternative/holistic doctors as offering powerful protection and healing to a damaged heart. In contrast, in a rather tragic irony of mainstream medicine, statin drugs, which are routinely prescribed to millions of people every day to prevent heart disease by lowering cholesterol (and are the number one moneymaker for Big Pharma), have been found to lower the body's levels of CoQ10. This can, in and of itself, lead to a heart attack via the condition called "heart failure" (HF). HF is connected to two main issues related to CoQ10: (1) CoQ10 is crucial, as mentioned above, for energy production at the cellular level, and is most crucially needed in muscle tissue. The heart is made up of muscle tissue, whose energy demands are the highest in the body, and lowering those levels compromises the heart. (2) Statins worsen left ventricular diastolic function, which can lead to HF, and this has also been linked to the lowering of CoQ10 levels, because CoQ10 supplementation reverses this side effect. In addition, as the body's CoQ10 levels go down, many additional nasty side effects of statins increase, including: nausea, diarrhea, increased blood sugar (sometimes to the point of creating type 2 diabetes), and muscle pain, up to and including rhabdomyolysis, a serious condition in which muscle cells collapse, releasing a muscle protein into the bloodstream that can cause liver and kidney damage. For all of the above reasons, patients who are willing to suffer the major health risks of taking statins are recommended to supplement with CoQ10. There is something of a controversy as to which form of this vital nutraceutical is best, ubiquinone or ubiquinol. This supplement offers ubiquinone. Since there have been extravagant claims in the marketplace for some time now that ubiquinol is hugely better than ubiquinone, CoQ10 in that form is, naturally enough, sold at hugely higher prices than ubiquinone. According to my own recent research on the subject, however, these big claims and big price tags are not actually merited. This is what I learned: CoQ10 exists in two forms in the body, ubiquinone and ubiquinol. When the body utilizes ubiquinone, in the process it transforms the ubiquinone into ubiquinol. Conversely, when the body processes ubiquinol, it converts it into ubiquinone. Both forms of CoQ10 are important for the body, and the body doesn't care which form you give it, because it can alter each form into the other, as needed. My conclusion as a consumer based on this information is the following: I feel free to save a lot of money by purchasing CoQ10 in the form of ubiquinone. Besides this particular supplement, I have been gradually switching brands to VitaFusion's entire line of gummy vitamins and nutraceuticals for the primary reason that I have a difficult time swallowing pills, even tiny ones, without choking. This delicious, peach-flavored CoQ10 is my latest acquisition. Unlike other brands of gummy vitamins, there is no hydrogenated fat in this supplement, it utlizes the safe preservatives citric acid and lactic acid, and it contains no high fructose corn syrup. Admittedly, the alternative sweeteners that VitaFusion employs, glucose syrup and sucrose (white sugar), are certainly not health foods, but they are far less harmful than HFCS or artificial sweeteners. Ideally, in my personal opinion, this company would use stevia, but meanwhile, two daily gummies does not add a great deal of sugar to the diet, only 3 grams. The only somewhat questionable ingredient is "natural flavor" (see below). If I could find a gummy without that, it would be great. In the meantime, this gummy works for me. Finally, nutraceuticals which raise the levels of ATP in the body have also been found to heal neuropathy. There are additional supplements which aid in this process which I have covered in my review of Benfotiamine, the most bioavailable form of vitamin B1 AKA thiamine, which is found here: https://amzn.to/2LyHzj8. Ingredients of this gummy besides ubiquinone: Glucose syrup, sucrose, water, gelatin, less than 2% of beeswax, citric acid, fractionated coconut oil, lactic acid, and natural flavor. WARNING: Contains tree nuts (coconut). Natural Flavor Explained: The definition of natural flavor under the Code of Federal Regulations is: "The essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional" (21CFR101.22). That essentially means that natural flavor is derived from a real food, but the process by which it is derived is unexplained and there is no way to know how safe or healthy a natural flavoring is.