Unfortunately, this product is not vegan, as the capsule shell is made from gelatine.

Ubiquinol is the unstable form of Q10 and will therefore change to ubiquinone over time, but this process takes several hours to days even with an opened capsule, so if you take the contents immediately after opening, it will not adversely affect its efficacy. A few seconds of exposure to air and light are not a problem.

Since this is an oil capsule (with coconut oil as a carrier), you can also bite the capsule open and suck out the contents. This way, even less oxygen comes into contact with the contents and there is no light exposure at all. Moreover, biting it open is easier than pricking or cutting it, which often results in a mess.

There are various opinions on whether ubiquinol or ubiquinone is better to use. There are no research results available that clearly confirm the advantage of one over the other. Theoretically, ubiquinol is better, but it is also more expensive. In that regard, it makes sense to spend your budget on a higher dose of Q10 rather than a specific form of Q10. In other words: if a 100 mg ubiquinol capsule costs the same as a 250 mg ubiquinone capsule, wouldn’t it be wiser to opt for the ubiquinone? Most likely, the answer to that question is "yes, I would prefer a higher dose of ubiquinone than a lower dose of ubiquinol."

The EU introduced new legislation a few years ago (Regulation 432/2012). Since then, manufacturers are no longer allowed to state what Q10 (and countless other substances) can be used for. However, manufacturers are still permitted to make certain claims about vitamin C. That is why Pharma Nord added vitamin C to the formula so they could at least mention the word "fatigue" on the packaging. One of the EU-approved health claims for vitamin C is "contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism."

Thus, vitamin C was added to somewhat circumvent this legislation. Many manufacturers have adjusted their formulas over the past 7 years to still be able to mention certain health claims on their packaging.

Which excipient do you consider harmful? It may be that texts on our website are outdated (manufacturers often change the excipients used without informing webshops). I just checked. The text for the Active is up-to-date, but the Gold did not have the excipients listed correctly. According to more recent information, the composition of the Gold is as follows (I will update this on the site shortly): "Palm oil, capsule wall: gelatin, coenzyme Q10 (ubiquinone), humectant: glycerol, vitamin: L-ascorbic acid, colour: ammonia caramel, humectant: purified water, thickening agent: silicon dioxide, colour: titanium dioxide."

A possible alternative is the Super Ubiquinol 100 mg from Vitaminhealth. This has the following composition: "Fillers (rapeseed oil, corn starch, glycerol, carrageenan, caramel, disodium phosphate (plant-based softgel)), emulsifiers (diglycerol monooleate, soy lecithin), ubiquinol, stabiliser (beeswax)."

Or our Ubiquinone 100 mg: "Fillers (sunflower oil, beef gelatin (softgel)), coenzyme Q10, anti-caking agent (silicon dioxide), humectants (glycerol, purified water), colourants (red iron oxide, black iron oxide)."

Or without colourants, the Ubiquinone 120 mg from Solgar.