THE ALPHA01 GUIDE COQ10
CoQ10 Supplement:
100mg, 200mg or 300mg of Fermented CoQ10 a Day?
Three strengths, one capsule a day, and the two words on the front of the pouch, fermented and ubiquinone, explained.
Find your strength
You’ve decided to try a CoQ10 supplement, and the shelf answers with words rather than help: ubiquinol on one pouch, ubiquinone on another, fermented on ours, and a choice of 100mg, 200mg or 300mg in a capsule. Coenzyme Q10 is a substance your own body makes, in every cell, and chemists have known it since a biochemist first isolated it from cattle tissue in 1957 1 2 3. None of that history is printed on a label, which is why the words on the front can feel like a test you didn’t revise for.
Choosing a supplement can feel overwhelming, and CoQ10 is no exception. A UK label may carry only the health claims authorised on the Great Britain register, so everything a label states it can also prove, and this guide sticks to what a label can state. It explains what coenzyme Q10 is, what ubiquinone and fermented mean on the front of the pouch and what the two lines on the back declare, then compares our four pouches by the two numbers that matter when you pay: the price a day and the price of each 100mg 4.
Fermented CoQ10 capsules at a glance
- Coenzyme Q10 and CoQ10 are one substance: the Q is a quinone ring and the 10 counts the ten isoprenoid units in its tail. Your body makes it in every cell, so it is not a vitamin 1 2 5.
- Ubiquinone and ubiquinol are the same molecule in two states, and ubiquinol turns into ubiquinone on its own. Our pouch front names its form: ubiquinone 2.
- Fermented tells you how the CoQ10 was made: by microorganisms, the main way supplement CoQ10 is produced today 2 6.
- Each capsule, in a hypromellose shell, holds 100mg, 200mg or 300mg of fermented CoQ10 with 2.5mg of BioPerine black pepper extract, and the label says one capsule a day with water 4 7 8.
- Pouch sizes: 120 capsules, about four months, in every strength, plus a 60-capsule pouch of the 300mg. Price a day: about 8.3p (100mg), 12.5p (200mg), 15p (300mg, 120 capsules) or 17p (300mg, 60 capsules). The 300mg pouch of 120 has the lowest price per 100mg, about 5p 4 7 8 9.
THE LOWEST PRICE PER 100MG
Fermented CoQ10 300mg
300mg fermented CoQ10 as ubiquinone in one capsule.
2.5mg BioPerine black pepper extract.
AVAILABLE SIZES
Explore 300mg CoQ1001 / MEET THE MOLECULE
What is coenzyme Q10? The coenzyme behind the name CoQ10
Coenzyme Q10 and CoQ10 are the same thing, the long name and its abbreviation. Coenzyme is the chemist’s word for a small molecule that enzymes work with. The Q points to the quinone ring at the centre of the molecule, and the 10 counts the isoprenoid units in the tail attached to that ring, which in humans is ten units long 1 5.
Across living things the tail runs from six units to ten, and the 10 in the name is the human count 1.
Its other name, ubiquinone, was made official in 1975 and comes from ubiquitous, because the substance turns up in living things from bacteria to humans 1. Every cell in your body makes its own, and it sits in the cell’s membranes, about half of it in the mitochondria, one of the small structures inside every cell, and the rest in the cell’s other structures 1 2 5.
On its own, CoQ10 is a solid that melts at about 50 to 52 degrees Celsius, lower than a freshly made cup of tea 10. Its fat solubility comes from that long tail 2.
The discovery is a story of its own. In 1957 Frederick Crane and his colleagues at the University of Wisconsin isolated it from cattle tissue as a yellow-orange, fat-soluble substance, and Karl Folkers and his co-workers at Merck then worked out its chemical structure 1 3. Crane’s paper ran to two pages and called its subject simply a quinone; both names came afterwards 1 3.
CoQ10 vitamin or coenzyme? Why the panel prints no NRV
Coenzyme Q10 is not a vitamin. A vitamin is a substance the body cannot make for itself and must take in from food, and human cells make CoQ10, so by definition it falls outside the group 2 5. It is not a herb either, and not an oil like fish oil; it is a single compound, the same whether it was made in your cells or in a fermentation tank 2.
That is also why the nutrition panel on the back of our pouch prints two asterisks where a vitamin label prints a percentage. A Nutrient Reference Value, the daily amount UK labels measure against, exists for 13 vitamins and 14 minerals and for nothing else, and coenzyme Q10 is on neither list, so the panel says No NRV established and leaves it there 4 11.
Which foods contain CoQ10, and how much is in a portion?
You eat coenzyme Q10 most days without knowing it. Meat, fish, nuts and some oils are the richest sources, while dairy, vegetables, fruit and cereals hold much less 12. Surveys of what people eat put the typical intake from food at about 3 to 6mg a day, around half of it as ubiquinol, one of the two forms the next section explains 5 12.
Portion by portion, the figures look like this: a fried beef portion of about 85g gives about 2.6mg, the same weight of fried chicken about 1.4mg, a tablespoon of soybean oil about 1.3mg and a small handful of roasted peanuts, about 28g, around 0.8mg, figures from the Linus Pauling Institute’s food table converted from American servings 5. So if meat, fish or nuts are on your plate most days, that is where your dietary coenzyme Q10 comes from.
02 / KNOW THE FORM
CoQ10 vs ubiquinol: which form is in the capsule?
Ubiquinone and ubiquinol are the same molecule in two states. Ubiquinone is the oxidised form and ubiquinol the reduced form, and inside the body the two keep turning into each other 2. A pouch labelled CoQ10 ubiquinol and a pouch labelled CoQ10 ubiquinone both contain coenzyme Q10.
One difference chemistry records is stability. Ubiquinol is, by its nature, unstable and oxidises to ubiquinone, which is why for a long time a CoQ10 supplement could only be made in the ubiquinone form 2. So the CoQ10 vs ubiquinol question comes down to the word on the front, and ours names its form on every pouch: ubiquinone.
Ubiquinol 200mg or ubiquinone 200mg: the same molecule at the same weight
Wondering whether a ubiquinol supplement, say ubiquinol Q10 200mg, is a different purchase from our ubiquinone Q10 at 200mg? By weight it is the same substance in a different state, coenzyme Q10 200mg either way, with the state printed on the front. The same holds for ubiquinol 100mg against our 100mg capsule, and for coenzyme Q10 300mg against our 300mg: switching changes the state of the molecule in the capsule, not the ingredient you’re buying.
So read the form on the front, then set like against like: the milligrams in one capsule, the capsules in a serving and the price per 100mg. Those three numbers are the whole comparison, and the rest of this guide is built around them.
03 / KNOW THE SOURCE
How is CoQ10 made? What fermented means on the pouch
Fermented on our pouch tells you how the CoQ10 was made: by microorganisms. Fermentation is the main way supplement CoQ10 is produced, with yeast or with bacteria such as Rhodobacter sphaeroides doing the work 2 6. The microbes used are ones that make large amounts of it naturally 13, and fermentation gives the trans form of the molecule, which is chemically identical to the CoQ10 your own cells make 2.
Our label names the method rather than the microorganism, so the panel line reads simply Fermented CoEnzyme Q10 4.
Two words on the front of the pouch carry the story of the CoQ10 itself: fermented for how it was made, and ubiquinone for the form it is in. The front also prints the amount in each capsule and the BioPerine line, and the amount is the next decision.
04 / FIND YOUR STRENGTH
Which CoQ10 strength is right for you: 100mg, 200mg or 300mg?
All four pouches in our CoQ10 range hold the same fermented ubiquinone with the same 2.5mg of BioPerine, one capsule a day 4 7 8 9. What changes is how much coenzyme Q10 sits in that capsule, how many capsules the pouch holds, and what you pay for each 100mg.
100MG IN ONE CAPSULE
CoQ10 100mg: the lowest price a day
Want to start with the smallest amount? Our Fermented CoQ10 100mg gives you 100mg in one capsule, 120 capsules to a pouch, for £9.99: about 8.3p a day, the lowest daily price of the four 7.
If you move up a strength later, the form, the source, the shell and the 2.5mg of BioPerine stay the same; what changes is the CoQ10 in the capsule.
200MG IN ONE CAPSULE
CoQ10 200mg: the middle strength
Looking for a middle course? The Fermented CoQ10 200mg puts 200mg in one capsule, again 120 to a pouch, for £14.99 8. That’s about 12.5p a day, and each 100mg of CoQ10 costs less than in the 100mg pouch: about 6.2p against 8.3p.
CoQ10 300mg: the lowest price per 100mg
Want the most coenzyme Q10 in one capsule? The Fermented CoQ10 300mg, 120 capsules gives you 300mg a day for £17.99, about 15p a day 4. It also has the lowest price per 100mg of the four, about 5p, and it’s the only strength where CoQ10 comes first on the ingredients list, as the label section below explains.
CoQ10 300mg in 60 capsules: try the strength first
Not ready for a four-month pouch? The 300mg pouch of 60 is the same capsule for £9.99, about two months at one a day 9. Two of these cost £19.98, so once the routine has settled, the pouch of 120 saves you £1.99.
05 / READ THE LABEL
What is in CoQ10 capsules? Reading the label’s two lines
Turn any of our pouches over and the nutrition panel has just two lines. The first is Fermented CoEnzyme Q10, at 100mg, 200mg or 300mg; the second is BioPerine® Black Pepper Extract, 2.5mg in every strength 4 7 8.
Nutritional Information
Serving Size: 1 Capsule
Servings Per Container: 120
| Ingredient | Amount per Serving | %NRV* |
|---|---|---|
| Fermented CoEnzyme Q10 | 300mg | ** |
| BioPerine® Black Pepper Extract | 2.5mg | ** |
*Nutrient Reference Value
** No NRV established
Both lines end in two asterisks: no NRV established, for the reason above 4 11.
The pouch front names the second line too: “made with BioPerine”. Two things the panel cannot tell you come next: the price of each 100mg, which the maths below works out, and the order of the four ingredients, which changes at 300mg.
with water
Fermented CoQ10, nutrition panels and prices 4
CoQ10 ingredients: why the order changes at 300mg
Ingredients are listed by weight, heaviest first 14. In the 100mg and 200mg capsules the bulking agent, microcrystalline cellulose, comes first and the CoQ10 second; in the 300mg capsules the CoQ10 comes first 4 7 8.
So in the 300mg capsule, coenzyme Q10 is the largest ingredient, while in the two lower strengths the bulking agent is. The other two ingredients are the same at every strength: a capsule shell of hypromellose, made from cellulose, and the BioPerine.
Coenzyme Q10 tablets, softgels or capsules: what the format tells you
Coenzyme Q10 tablets are pressed powder, a softgel holds the CoQ10 in oil inside a soft shell, and a hard capsule holds powder inside two halves that pull apart. Ours are coenzyme Q10 capsules of the third kind: a hypromellose shell, made from cellulose and not from gelatine, holding fermented CoQ10, microcrystalline cellulose and the 2.5mg of BioPerine 4 15.
If a shell with no gelatine matters to you, ours is the hard capsule. Whatever the shell, the comparison is the one set out above: the milligrams in one capsule, the capsules in a serving and the price per 100mg, with the form read from the front.
06 / COMPARE THE RANGE
How to compare CoQ10 capsules: price per 100mg
Prices in the table are correct at the time of writing.
| Product | Serving · what the label declares | Routine & value |
|---|---|---|
1 capsule · 100mg fermented CoQ10 (ubiquinone) · 2.5mg BioPerine · bulking agent listed first · 12g of CoQ10 in the pouch | Choose if you want the lowest price a day · 120 servings · £9.99: about 8.3p a day, about 8.3p per 100mg | |
1 capsule · 200mg fermented CoQ10 (ubiquinone) · 2.5mg BioPerine · bulking agent listed first · 24g of CoQ10 in the pouch | Choose if you want the middle strength · 120 servings · £14.99: about 12.5p a day, about 6.2p per 100mg | |
1 capsule · 300mg fermented CoQ10 (ubiquinone) · 2.5mg BioPerine · CoQ10 listed first · 36g of CoQ10 in the pouch | Choose if you want the most CoQ10 in one capsule at the lowest price per 100mg · 120 servings · £17.99: about 15p a day, about 5p per 100mg | |
Same capsule as the 300mg pouch of 120 · 18g of CoQ10 in the pouch | Choose if you want to try 300mg first · 60 servings · £9.99: about 17p a day, about 5.5p per 100mg |
Comparing our pouches? Divide the price by the number of 100mg in the pouch, which is 360 for the 300mg pouch of 120. The maths box above shows the sum, and that pouch comes out lowest, at about 5p per 100mg 4 7 8 9.
Do the sum for a year if you buy CoQ10 to take every day. A pouch of 120 lasts about four months, so a year at one a day works out at a little over three pouches: about £30 at 100mg, about £46 at 200mg and about £55 at 300mg. The 300mg pouch of 60 is the right first purchase if you would rather not commit to four months at once; once the routine has settled, the pouch of 120 is the cheaper way to carry on.
THE LOWEST PRICE A DAY
Fermented CoQ10 100mg
100mg fermented CoQ10 as ubiquinone in one capsule.
2.5mg BioPerine black pepper extract.
THE MIDDLE STRENGTH
Fermented CoQ10 200mg
200mg fermented CoQ10 as ubiquinone in one capsule.
The same 2.5mg BioPerine line.
07 / KEEP IT SIMPLE
CoQ10 dosage: how much coenzyme Q10 per day?
One capsule daily with water
Our label keeps it simple: one capsule daily with water, whichever strength you choose 4. There is no official daily amount for coenzyme Q10, so the CoQ10 dosage per day is the one capsule the label sets. The choice is how much CoQ10 sits in it, 100mg, 200mg or 300mg, and the strength section above prices each.
The label names no time of day and no meal, only water, so pick a moment you’ll remember: the morning coffee, the lunchtime glass of water or the evening meal. Keep the pouch in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight and out of reach of young children 4.
A SIMPLE DAILY ROUTINE
Four months of fermented CoQ10 in one pouch
A pouch lasts as many days as it has capsules, so the 120s are the long-haul options and the 60 is the way to start. If you want the most coenzyme Q10 for your money, the 300mg pouch of 120 is the one: the lowest price per 100mg, about 5p, and one capsule a day for about four months.
SHOP FERMENTED COQ10 300MG08 / A LITTLE MORE CLARITY
Fermented CoQ10 FAQs
What is CoQ10 good for?
Is coenzyme Q10 the same as ubiquinol?
Yes. CoQ10 ubiquinol on a label means coenzyme Q10 in its reduced state, and ubiquinone is the same molecule in its oxidised state; the two keep turning into each other 2. Ours prints ubiquinone on the pouch front, so 200mg of our CoQ10 is 200mg of coenzyme Q10 in that state.
Is coenzyme Q10 a vitamin?
Should I take 100mg, 200mg or 300mg of CoQ10?
The label sets one capsule a day at whichever strength you choose and says do not exceed the recommended daily dose 4. There is no official daily figure to measure a strength against, so the choice is the amount you want in that one capsule and the price per 100mg, lowest in the 300mg pouch of 120 4. If you are unsure, the 300mg pouch of 60 lets you try that strength for about two months before you commit to a pouch of 120 9.
When should I take CoQ10, morning or evening?
The label names no time of day and no meal, only one capsule daily with water, at whichever strength you choose 4. Morning or evening is your choice, so tie it to something you already do each day; the label is written for every day, and a pouch of 120 is four months of the same routine.
Can you take CoQ10 with other supplements?
Keep each product to the serving on its own label. Ours sets one capsule a day and names no other supplement 4. If omega 3 shares your morning, that is one fish oil serving and one CoQ10 capsule, and our omega 3 guide reads its label the same way.
Can I take CoQ10 when pregnant, breastfeeding or on medication?
Not when pregnant or breastfeeding: the label says the capsules are not intended for children, or for pregnant or breastfeeding women 4. If you have a medical condition or take any medication, it asks you to consult a doctor before use, and it says not to take them while on warfarin therapy without medical advice 4. For pregnancy in general, the NHS adds: “If you need higher dose folic acid or other supplements, speak to a GP” 17.
What is the BioPerine in our CoQ10 capsules?
BioPerine is a branded black pepper extract, and every capsule holds 2.5mg of it at all three strengths, listed with its exact amount on the panel 4 7 8. Black pepper’s pungency comes from piperine, an alkaloid that on its own forms colourless crystals with the aroma of pepper 18 19. Chemists first made it in a laboratory in 1894, and light slowly turns it into related forms that lose their pungency 19.
Is a fermented CoQ10 supplement vegan?
THE BOTTOM LINE
So, which CoQ10 should you choose?
Choose the 100mg if you want the lowest price a day and the 200mg for the middle strength. Choose the 300mg pouch of 120 for the most coenzyme Q10 in a capsule at the lowest price per 100mg: the pouch to buy if you want four months in one go. And if you want to try the 300mg strength first, the pouch of 60 is the place to start.
All four sit in our specialty supplements range.
GO TO THE SOURCE
Sources & references
Checked against the product labels shown on alpha01.co.uk and the Great Britain Nutrition and Health Claims Register, October 2026. Product formulations, prices and guidance can change.
- Wang Y, Lilienfeldt N, Hekimi S (2024). Understanding coenzyme Q. Physiological Reviews, 104(4):1533-1610 (cited for the structure and naming of coenzyme Q10, that every cell makes it, its isolation in 1957 and the determination of its structure only; its statements on function are not used). View source
- Mantle D, Dybring A (2020). Bioavailability of Coenzyme Q10: An Overview of the Absorption Process and Subsequent Metabolism. Antioxidants, 9(5):386 (cited only for the two forms of CoQ10 and their stability, its fat solubility, where CoQ10 sits in the cell, why it is not a vitamin, and how supplement CoQ10 is made by fermentation as the trans form; its health statements are not used). View source
- Crane FL, Hatefi Y, Lester RL, Widmer C (1957). Isolation of a quinone from beef heart mitochondria. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, 25(1):220-221. View source
- Alpha01. Fermented CoQ10 300mg, 120 Capsules: nutritional information panel, ingredients, suggested use, caution, storage, pouch front, price and price per 100mg. View source
- Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University. Coenzyme Q10. Micronutrient Information Center (cited for the body’s own synthesis, the origin of the name, why CoQ10 is not a vitamin, where it is found in cells, and the dietary intake and food table only; portion figures converted from the table’s American servings, 3 oz as about 85g and 1 oz as about 28g). View source
- Zhang L, Li YL, Hu JH, Liu ZY (2022). Overexpression of enzymes in glycolysis and energy metabolic pathways to enhance coenzyme Q10 production in Rhodobacter sphaeroides VK-2-3. Frontiers in Microbiology, 13:931470 (cited only for fermentation as the main way CoQ10 is produced). View source
- Alpha01. Fermented CoQ10 100mg, 120 Capsules: nutritional information panel, ingredients and price. View source
- Alpha01. Fermented CoQ10 200mg, 120 Capsules: nutritional information panel, ingredients and price. View source
- Alpha01. Fermented CoQ10 300mg, 60 Capsules: nutritional information panel and price. View source
- National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Compound Summary for CID 5281915, Coenzyme Q10 (physical description and melting point). View source
- Retained Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex XIII, Part A: daily reference intakes for vitamins and minerals. legislation.gov.uk. View source
- Pravst I, Zmitek K, Zmitek J (2010). Coenzyme Q10 contents in foods and fortification strategies. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 50(4):269-280 (cited for the food sources and the dietary intake figure only; its health statements are not used). View source
- Cluis CP, Burja AM, Martin VJ (2007). Current prospects for the production of coenzyme Q10 in microbes. Trends in Biotechnology, 25(11):514-521 (cited for the microbes used in production only). View source
- Food labelling and packaging: ingredients list. GOV.UK. View source
- Kruk K, Winnicka K (2024). Hard Gelatin Capsules with Alginate-Hypromellose Microparticles as a Multicompartment Drug Delivery System for Sustained Posaconazole Release. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 25(13):7116 (cited only for hypromellose as a material made from cellulose). View source
- Department of Health and Social Care. Great Britain nutrition and health claims (NHC) register, updated 19 May 2026 (every coenzyme Q10 entry non-authorised; no authorised entry for black pepper or piperine). GOV.UK. View source
- Pregnancy vitamins and supplements. NHS. View source
- National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Compound Summary for CID 638024, Piperine. View source
- Syailatussuraya MS, Mutakin M, Asman S, Hasanah AN (2026). Piperine: From Green Extraction to Clinical Translation, A Review. Drug Design, Development and Therapy, 20:639169 (cited only for piperine as the source of black pepper’s pungency, its first synthesis in 1894 and its change in light). View source
