News

Without the molecule ubiquinone (coenzyme Q10), life on Earth would hardly have evolved. This insight emerges from a Danish-American study, which the Novo Nordisk Foundation's online media ScienceNews dk wrote about in an article from May 14th 2020. Ubiquinone, which is found in all our cells, was originally developed by prehistoric bacteria so that they could survive on land. Read more about this wild evolutionary development here.

Normally we do not associate bacteria with anything positive, but you can safely send a kind thought to the bacteria that 2.5 billion years ago made a minor "engine adjustment" in order to survive. The small but significant change they made is the reason you're here. The bacteria, which at the time was the only form of life on the planet, even developed the substance that is today considered an important element in the cells' energy-creating power plants: the mitochondria.

Human energy metabolism includes ubiquinone

Developed ubiquinone as a new "fuel"

The substance is called ubiquinone but is also called coenzyme Q10. The bacteria had hitherto used naptoquinone as an energy agent, but because the oxygen concentration in the atmosphere had suddenly become significantly higher, the bacteria needed an alternative quinone form that could simultaneously protect them from the oxygen. Oxygen is a double-edged sword, as it is life-giving on the one hand and can form highly destructive oxygen compounds (free radicals) on the other. Here, ubiquinone has the advantage of attaching to the oxygen, where as naptoquinone tends to drop the oxygen ions to form harmful oxygen compounds.

Ubiquinone gave faster growth

Bacteria had a definite advantage in switching from one type of quinone to the other. The researchers found this out by studying coliform bacteria in a laboratory. Coliform bacteria are able to utilize both naptoquinone and ubiquinone depending on the oxygen saturation in their environment. By genetically "resetting" the bacteria, the researchers succeeded in creating different variants of the prehistoric bacteria. Now they could clearly see how coliform bacteria that use naptoquinone grow 30 percent more slowly than the bacteria that use ubiquinone. In other words, it was an evolutionary gain the bacteria achieved by switching quinone type.

Bacteria formed the world's first cell

The story gets even more exciting with the prevailing theory that two bacteria at one point - quite by chance - fused. The bacterium that penetrated the other bacterium then evolved into what we know as the mitochondria - the energy-creating powerhouse of living cells. This was probably the world's first cell, and since then it has accelerated. Plants, animals and humans, all of which are made up of living cells, arose in the wake of all this fusion, and the rest of the story you already know.

A mitochondria contains ubiquinone and consists of an inner and outer membrane

Man can form ubiquinone himself

Back to ubiquinone. Exactly the same substance that was developed billions of years ago by bacteria is now found in the mitochondria of all our cells. We form ubiquinone ourselves, but already from the age of 20-25, the body's own production begins to decline. Ubiquinone is also found in certain foods, but it is primarily our own production that prevails. American and Japanese researchers began to take a keen interest in ubiquinone in the 1960s and 1970s, but it was not something that the general public knew about or had heard of.

Scientific research with Pharma Nord's Q10 preparations

In 1990, Pharma Nord was the first company in Europe to introduce ubiquinone (coenzyme Q10) in capsule form in 1990. The preparation, called Bio-Qinon Q10, was registered as a drug for the prevention and treatment of coenzyme Q10 deficiency. Later, a dietary version was also launched. The preparation has become known in particular after being used in two major scientific studies.
One study is called KiSel-10 and was published in the International Journal of Cardiology in 2013. Here, Swedish researchers gave Pharma Nord's Q10 capsules together with the selenium preparation SelenoPrecise to healthy elderly people and found that the combination significantly improved their quality of life. The second study in which Pharma Nord's Q10 was used is called Q-Symbio and was published in JACC Heart Failure in 2014.

Search for

Search Results

Please Select your Country

Coenzyme Q10 is 2.5 billion years old

Developed ubiquinone as a new "fuel"

Ubiquinone gave faster growth

Bacteria formed the world's first cell

Man can form ubiquinone himself

Scientific research with Pharma Nord's Q10 preparations