A new report by ConsumerLab.com, White Plains, NY, highlights the difficulty consumers may have in selecting a supplement containing the antioxidant CoQ10 or its activated form, ubiquinol. CoQ10 is among the most popular dietary supplements in the U.S., with $450 million in sales in 2009, according to Nutrition Business Journal, Boulder, CO. Further, the recent “Supplement Users Survey” by ConsumerLab.com showed that 53% of serious supplement users purchased CoQ10 in 2010 and this rate was even higher among men and people over the age of 55. Across 31 products reviewed by ConsumerLab.com, the suggested daily serving size ranged from only 22 mg to 400 mg of CoQ10 or ubiquinol. The cost to obtain 100 mg of either ingredient from the products ranged from $.11 to more than $3. Some products contained “solubilized” forms of CoQ10 or ubiquinol, which may deliver more than twice as much CoQ10 into the blood as standard capsules. ConsumerLab.com’s supplement testing showed that all products contained their listed amounts of CoQ10 or ubiquinol, but four products violated FDA labeling requirements by depicting a heart symbol on their labels. The heart symbol is an implied health claim not permitted by FDA for CoQ10 or ubiquinol supplements.

In a separate review, two of 10 turmeric products selected for quality testing were found to provide only 7.7% and 14.7%, respectively, of expected curcuminoid compounds. Unlike some turmeric supplements tested in the past, however, none of the recently tested products exceeded strict limits for lead and cadmium contamination.