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Boots the chemist has just launched its own version of the supplement Coenzyme Q10, or CoQ10, which it claims helps maintain natural energy levels, boost your heart and protect your immune system - all for 60p a pill. But do the claims by the UK’s biggest high street chemist stack up, and could a simple supplement like this really add years to your life? We look at the evidence.

It is already available in most healthfood shops, but the version of Coenzyme Q10, commonly known as CoQ10, just launched by Boots is being marketed as a supplement that will provide you with a plethora of health benefits, from boosting depleted energy levels, protecting your heart and immune system and generally maintaining bodily vitality.

Boots Energy Super Strength CoQ10 is a pure form of the supplement and, so certain are Boots of its benefits, it is offering a money back guarantee for the next month if any customer is not satisfied after a seven day trial, the first time in history that Boots has made such an offer on a vitamin supplement.

Boots’ version of the co-enzyme contains a natural form of CoQ10, called Kaneka CoQ10, a substance which is found naturally in the human body and is vital to the production of energy from food. As we age, however, levels of CoQ10 in the body decrease and energy levels suffer as a result as the body struggles to convert food into energy. CoQ10 levels are also thought to be low in patients with chronic heart conditions, cancer, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.
CoQ10 is also essential for fuelling the body’s natural functions, such as breathing, digestion and movement of muscles.

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Nick Bennet, vitamin formulation expert for Boots, said: “Many people experience lower energy levels as they get older or because of a hectic lifestyle. When our need for CoQ10 increases, supplementation can help to supply higher levels of CoQ10 than are available in the diet. Taking our version of the supplement is a way of boosting energy levels than can help people who lack energy to see results in a week.”

But not everyone is convinced. While experts agree that CoQ10 is key to survival, scientific opinion is divided over the efficacy of CoQ10 supplements.

The evidence for
While many experts would acknowledge that more research is required into the overall effectiveness of CoQ10, there has recently been a number of studies carried out which shed some light on its potential.

Most recently, the Journal of the International Society for Sports Nutrition conducted a 14 day trial on the effect of CoQ10 on people during exercise. The study found that people who took 200mg of CoQ10 before exercising were able to work out for longer before they began to experience signs of exhaustion.

Elsewhere, a British Journal of Nutrition study found that CoQ10 supplementation leads to fewer sports injuries while the International Journal of Cardiology reported that patients taking CoQ10 for eight weeks after suffering a heart attack experienced lower blood pressure and higher levels of good cholesterol in the blood.

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There is also some evidence that CoQ10 could counteract the side-effects of statins, the medication used by 3.5 million people in the UK to lower cholesterol.

Commenting on the vital role of CoQ10 in the production of energy, nutrition expert Kristoph Thompson from Brighton University said: “CoQ10 is a naturally occurring substance found in every cell in the body. It has many roles but mainly acts as an antioxidant, regulating reactions and helping to create energy and assisting in the absorption of other nutrients.

“But it is the role of CoQ10 in the production of energy that is most relevant to individuals. CoQ10 assists in the production of ATP, the body’s usable form of energy. If the body is unable to efficiently produce ATP, it is unable to function at its optimum level.”

The evidence against
One look at the evidence above is enough to make you think that we should all be taking CoQ10 supplements. But some experts have been quick to disagree. David Colquhoun, professor of pharmacology at University College London, told the Daily Mail newspaper, that Boots are “misleading customers” over their 60p wonder pill.

“CoQ10 helps the body convert glucose into energy, but it’s not the psychological get-up-and-go energy you feel day to day. The type of energy it does produce powers our muscles and cells – physical energy. They have confused the two here to promote a product that I’m not convinced would make any different to how you feel at all.”

Other experts, meanwhile, have been quick to point out that, as with many vitamins, any perceived benefits are likely to be all in the mind. Noel O’Hare, author of Think Before You Swallow: The Art of Staying Healthy in a Health-Obsessed World, says: “It’s likely that the placebo effect will play a big role in convincing people they have more energy.” O’Hare also points out that, at 60p a pill, CoQ10 is not actually all that cheap.

Lastly, the Mayo Clinic offers perhaps the most sensible explanation of the debate surrounding CoQ10 products like Boots Energy Super Strength. “CoQ10 remains controversial as a treatment in many areas. Safety and effectiveness have not always been proven.” Basically, while the Boots product may have some benefits, more research is needed before we know for sure.