Question about quality & value of supplements
 

Like many of us, I take several different supplements including 1200 mg of CoQ10 daily. I've been getting mine from Swanson's which has pretty good prices (30 x 400mg of CoQ10 @$15.30). But I wonder about the quality control of Swanson's (and other companies) and if there are significantly better prices in the U.S. for supplements? I remember someone mentioning Jarrow for quality in a thread earlier this year. Any others?

Jon

Jarrow and Now
 

Both are high quality with Jarrow my favorite. Swanson's seems pretty good but I have more experience with the other two.

Liquid COQ10
 

Reveret:
1) Have you ever tried liquid CO Q10? At one time I was using a liquid product by Vitol. It was reasonably priced and supposed to be more readily absorbed, but I opted for the easier to gulp down type of capsule.
2) Have you heard of or tried Parkimin sprays described by William Paul Hansen in his book, "Hope Heals, How One Man Conquered Parkinson's?"
He developed several types of spray vitamin formulas for himself, and claims that they are more easily absorbed and gave better results than the standard caplet fare.
Have a great day,
Shake Em Up, aka, Cyndy

r servng

coq10
 

I have read reports that Tishcon makes an absorbable CoQ10 product. Vitaline Formulary manufactured the coQ10 used in the original study for parkinson's patients which showed a decrease in early stage patients who took 1200 mgm/day (Shults, Clifford, Beal, MF, et al, arch neurology, 2002). friend who is a pharmacist maintains Sam's Club brand is "pretty well absorbed". I have not researched this in a long time--would guess there are many products out there now which are well absorbed. at one time it wes thought one had to take a fat with the coQ10 to act as a vehicle for absorption, and several of the products used Vit E for this reason.

There is a difference
 

between quality and absorption.

There are many "quality" companies making a CoQ-10 product.
But I don't see many absorption claims proven.

CoQ-10 has a low absorption rate anyway. The Tishcon product is naturally made to provide the most active form.

But some people are starting to use Ubiquinol instead.
I think the jury is still out on the one vs the other.
I believe Ubiquinol was discussed here in the not so distant past. It is MUCH more expensive.

CoQ-10 went way up in price about two years ago, but now has dropped to very affordable levels.

A new CoQ10 plant in Texas?
 

I seem to remember reading two or three years ago that a Japanese company that manufactures Co Q10 was planning a new facility in Texas. Increased supply from the new plant may be the reason the price has dropped.
For what it's worth, I use Sam's Club CoQ10, which has decreased in price by at least 20% over the last year.

CoQ 10
 

Considering the expense, I'm not sure CoQ10 is cost effective. I use a combination of acetyl-L-carnitine and alpha lipoic acid. Anti-oxidant and mitochondria booster and gets past the BBB. Similar to CoQ10 in action.

What brand do you use?

Also, re ubiquinol: Swanson's makes a 60 count 100mg ubiquinol which sells for $24. Reputedly ubiquinol is approximately 3 times as effective as regular CoQ10; if that is in fact the case (and I haven't seen any studies), the math seems to make it a slightly better deal. caveat: I was a literature major in college, so math was on the other side of town (and mathematicians were definitely had a higher calling) . . .

I have a comment about alpha lipoic acid.
Regular alpha lipoic acid is made up of two isomers, and only one is active in the body.

Also there is one study on rats, that shows that this racemic mixture may cause low thyroid effects. This has not been duplicated in humans however.

Some of us on Peripheral Neuropathy use lipoic acid...but we are using the new r-lipoic...which is much more potent. 100mg a day is often enough for us!

There are no studies yet on r-lipoic causing interference with thyroid functions.
If you search lipoic thyroid on PN a post by Liza Jane a few months ago had information about that. She asked her doctor, who, was clueless.

I find r-lipoic is very effective in lowering blood sugar too. So if any of you take drugs for diabetes I or II, be careful, and you might need a dosage adjustment.;)

Iherb is a good source. They are reliable and fast and discount name brands:

http://www.iherb.com/Search.aspx?c=1&kw=ubiquinol