A chewable strawberry gummy that delivers 150 mg of fermented coenzyme Q10 per serving of two gummies, from Garden of Life's Vitamin Code range. It exists for one simple reason: CoQ10 is normally sold as an oily capsule, and a lot of people would rather chew something than swallow one.
What coenzyme Q10 actually is
CoQ10 (ubiquinone) is a fat-soluble compound your own body makes. It sits in the membranes of your mitochondria, where it carries electrons along the chain that produces ATP — the molecule cells spend as energy. It is also an antioxidant inside fatty membranes, where water-soluble antioxidants like vitamin C cannot reach. The highest concentrations in the body are in the heart, liver and kidneys, the organs that work hardest.
Your own production falls gradually from around your twenties onwards. That is a real, measured change — and it is also the whole basis of the marketing around this ingredient, so it is worth knowing where the evidence stops.
What we are allowed to tell you — and what we are not
We will be straight with you: there is no authorised EU health claim for coenzyme Q10. Not one. Every application to make a claim about energy, the heart or ageing has been assessed and none has been approved. So we are not going to tell you this gummy does any of those things, and you should be sceptical of any shop that does.
What we can tell you is what it is, what dose you are getting, why people buy it, and what to be careful about. That is below.
Why people take it
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Statins. Statins block HMG-CoA reductase, and that same pathway is the one your body uses to build CoQ10. Statins therefore lower blood CoQ10 — this part is not controversial, it is straightforward biochemistry. Whether replacing it improves the muscle aches some people get on statins is genuinely unsettled: trials point in both directions and there is no consensus. If that is your reason for buying, discuss it with the doctor who prescribed the statin. Never stop or reduce a statin because you have started taking CoQ10.
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Age. Tissue levels decline over the decades, which is why this ingredient is marketed to people over fifty.
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Preference for a chewable. Standard CoQ10 comes in a soft oil capsule. This does not.
Important — if you take warfarin, read this
Coenzyme Q10 is structurally similar to vitamin K, and there are reports of it reducing the effect of warfarin (lowering INR). If you take warfarin or another vitamin K antagonist, do not start this without telling the clinic that manages your INR, and expect to be monitored more closely at the start.
Also check with a health professional first if you take medication for blood pressure (CoQ10 may add to the lowering effect), if you are receiving chemotherapy, or if you are pregnant or breastfeeding — there is not enough data in pregnancy to say it is fine, and "not enough data" is not the same as "safe".
What is in the gummy
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150 mg fermented CoQ10 per two-gummy serving. Fermented, rather than synthesised — it is produced by yeast fermentation, which yields the same all-trans form your body uses.
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An organic fruit blend — strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, tart cherry, elderberry, cranberry. It is a small amount and it is there for flavour and colour, not as a meaningful serving of fruit.
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Bacillus subtilis DE111, a spore-forming probiotic strain chosen because its spores survive being made into a gummy, which most probiotic bacteria do not.
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Sweetened with fructooligosaccharides (a prebiotic fibre), not with syrup. A serving is about 20 kcal with roughly 1 g of sugars and no added sugar — unusual for a gummy, and the main reason we are comfortable stocking it.
- Set with agar and pectin rather than gelatine, so it is vegan. Colour comes from black carrot. No gluten, no soy, no nuts, no stevia.
An honest word about gummy supplements
Gummies are a lovely format and a slightly imperfect one. Actives degrade faster in a chewy sugar matrix than in a sealed capsule, so independent testing of gummy supplements as a category has repeatedly found more variation between label and contents than with capsules. Keep the jar closed, cool and out of the light, do not leave it in a hot car or a sunny window, and finish it within a sensible time rather than keeping it for two years.
And the obvious one, which is easy to forget precisely because it tastes good: this is a supplement, not a sweet. Keep it out of reach of children.
Where it does not replace anything
A food supplement is not a substitute for a varied and balanced diet or a healthy lifestyle, and it is not a substitute for medication you have been prescribed. Do not exceed the stated daily dose.
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