• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Saturday, August 23, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Health

Popular antioxidant likely ineffective

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
March 6, 2015
in Health
Reading Time: 2 mins read
1
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

The popular dietary supplement ubiquinone, also known as Coenzyme Q10, is widely believed to function as an antioxidant, protecting cells against damage from free radicals. But a new study by scientists at McGill University finds that ubiquinone is not a crucial antioxidant — and that consuming it is unlikely to provide any benefit.

The findings, by a team led by Professor Siegfried Hekimi in McGill’s Department of Biology, are published today (March 6) in Nature Communications.

Ubiquinone is a lipid-like substance found naturally in all cells of the body. Cells need it to produce energy from nutrients and oxygen — a function performed by tiny structures, known as mitochondria, within cells. Because it was also thought to function as an antioxidant, ubiquinone has been recommended for a variety of ills and as an anti-aging supplement; global sales of the substance are estimated to amount to hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

“Our findings show that one of the major anti-aging antioxidant supplements used by people can’t possibly act as previously believed,” Hekimi says. “Dietary supplements cost a lot of money to patients throughout the world – money that would be better spent on healthy food. What’s more, the hope for a quick fix makes people less motivated to undertake appropriate lifestyle changes.”

In order to study how energy metabolism affects aging, the McGill researchers created the first strain of mice in which scientists are able to gradually eliminate ubiquinone — and then to restore it at will to normal levels. Because of ubiquinone’s role in energy production, loss of the substance in the mice led to severe sickness and early death. But the researchers were surprised to find no signs of elevated oxidative damage to cell membranes or DNA from free radicals, the sometimes-harmful molecules created by the oxygen chemistry during metabolism. The team also determined that this unexpected lack of damage didn’t stem from deployment of some other antioxidant strategies by the animals.

At the same time, the research yielded new insights into the importance of ubiquinone in helping mitochondria produce energy. “Many patients are sick because their mitochondria don’t work properly, including because they don’t contain enough ubiquinone,” Hekimi says. “We’ll be using the results of this study to devise ways, and possibly new drugs, to boost ubiquinone levels or help residual ubiquinone to function effectively in defective mitochondria.” To that end, his research team recently received a grant from MitoCanada, a charity that seeks to help patients with mitochondrial diseases.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by McGill University.

Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Prenatal Exposure to Urban Heat Dome Linked to Behavioral Issues in Children

Prenatal Exposure to Urban Heat Dome Linked to Behavioral Issues in Children

August 23, 2025
blank

Harnessing the Power of the Non-Coding Genome to Advance Precision Medicine

August 23, 2025

WTAP Drives DNA Repair via m6A-FOXM1 in Liver Cancer

August 22, 2025

Unraveling SOX2: Its Crucial Role in Prostate Cancer Progression and Therapy Resistance

August 22, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • blank

    Molecules in Focus: Capturing the Timeless Dance of Particles

    141 shares
    Share 56 Tweet 35
  • New Drug Formulation Transforms Intravenous Treatments into Rapid Injections

    114 shares
    Share 46 Tweet 29
  • Neuropsychiatric Risks Linked to COVID-19 Revealed

    81 shares
    Share 32 Tweet 20
  • Modified DASH Diet Reduces Blood Sugar Levels in Adults with Type 2 Diabetes, Clinical Trial Finds

    60 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Temperature and Desiccation Impact Acinetobacter baumannii Cells

Prenatal Exposure to Urban Heat Dome Linked to Behavioral Issues in Children

First-ever observation of the transverse Thomson effect unveiled

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.