The coenzyme Q10 content of food supplements

Abstract

In the European Union (EU), food supplements are regulated as food and their use is expanding rapidly. There is no enforcement to ensure that good manufacturing practices (GMPs) are followed during production but manufacturers are fully responsible for their products. Recently, the safety and quality of supplements available in the market has come into question. In our surveillance, we examined coenzyme Q10 content of 58 food supplements available in three EU member states or from Internet stores using high-performance liquid chromatography methodology. While some of the tested supplements contained almost exactly the same quantity of active ingredient as labelled, onethird of the products contained \70% of the labelled content. In the food supplements obtained online the medium content was lower than in the products purchased in pharmacies. To protect the consumer and assure the safety and quality of products, the market authorities need to exert better control. In addition, it would make sense to enforce additional requirements to ensure GMPs are followed in the manufacturing process of food supplements.

Monitoring of essential and toxic elements in multi-ingredient food supplements produced in European Union

“…Previous studies have found that declared Se contents in FS from the EU market does not agree with its actual levels with just as little as 20% of investigated products meeting the acceptable margin . Such discrepancies were also reported previously for content of coenzyme Q10 (Pravst and Ž mitek 2011), folic acid, vitamin A, vitamin C (Brandon et al 2014) and vitamin D (Verkaik-Kloosterman et al 2017). As demonstrated by Gabriels and Lambert (2013), the nutritional value of the FS declared on container label is an important factor assisting the consumers' decision-making processes, when purchasing a product.…”

The effect of dietary intake of coenzyme Q10 on skin parameters and condition: Results of a randomised, placebo‐controlled, double‐blind study

“…This can be explained by the fact that the strongest evidence is available for the beneficial role of CoQ10 supplementation in cardiovascular health but, considering that studies were not performed on healthy population groups, such evidence cannot be used to substantiate health claims for foods . On the market, CoQ10 is mainly used in food supplements , although it can also be found in functional foods. For example, CoQ10 was added as a functional ingredient to 3.5% of yoghurts sold in the Slovenian food supply in 2011 .…”

Functional Foods in Europe: A Focus on Health Claims

“…In practice, such controls mainly focus on assuring adequate safety by controlling for contaminants and additives (Pravst and Žmitek 2011). Nutritional composition is usually not considered a health risk and is therefore less controlled.…”

“…probiotics) etc. (Pravst and Žmitek 2011). The appropriate content of these ingredients in final products must be achieved using suitable production standards (including quality control of both raw materials and the final product) and stability during the manufacturing process and shelf life.…”

“…A significant problem that arises in the evaluation of the quality of functional foods is that there are no generally accepted tolerances for the declaration of nutrients and other active ingredients in the EU (DG SANCO 2006), although guidelines on this issue have been accepted in some countries (Table 11). The task of setting tolerable margins was identified as a priority 10 years ago during the discussion that led to the adoption of Directive 2002/46/EC on food supplements, but this goal has not yet been achieved (Pravst and Žmitek 2011). Nevertheless, there is a general agreement that such tolerances should be defined at the Community level in order to avoid trade barriers and ensure consumer protection (DG SANCO 2006).…”