Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Okay - First of all, it is hard to rate supplements since most of us take them for future health benefits or to stay in a reasonable healthy state. I have taken the usual supplements for years - fish oil, garlic, antioxidants, C, D, E, etc. - and it must be doing something good as I am 67 years old and do not take any prescription medications, my BP is always around 110/70, my pulse is always around 60 (I am not an athlete), I have all my teeth and a full head of hair. So, I can't say that any particular supplement has made me youthful or kept me healthy. It is probably a combination of everything that keeps me going. So, then when I look at a supplement, there are other factors besides the main ingredient that help to make it stand our. It has to have the right ingredients and not crappy additives that cancel all my hard work over the years. When it comes to supplements, it is hard to find quality supplements that are made in the USA and don't have crap ingredients like titanium dioxide, stearates, soybean oil (GMO), polysorbates, and the like. Unfortunately, Amazon does not show a list of ingredients on most supplements in their store, so you have to rely on others comments, or buy something and find out after you get it that it has crap ingredients. That is the case with the last bottle of COQ10 I purchased from another brand here on the Amazon store. The product ingredient label was not available. When I received it in the mail, and looked at the ingredients, it had polysorbate 80 listed. Do a google search on "polysorbate 80 health issues" and see how evil this additive is, and it is found in foods, cosmetics, and vitamins. So, why bother with COQ10, anyway? Now I am not an expert on supplements, but I do my research before buying and using anything. COQ10 is on my daily regimen list. It is a nutrient that affects our levels of energy, stamina, organ health, immune system functionality and more. You can find CoQ10 in fish, like sardines and mackerel, as well as beef and peanuts. Our cells require this co-enzyme to function properly on a day-to-day basis and it's considered to be an extremely strong antioxidant to help fight off free radicals. If you do a google search, the list of benefits you will find is pretty eye-opening. Not only does COQ10 play a part in slowing the aging process in healthy people but it can reduce issues with blood pressure, ulcers, migraines, muscular dystrophy, heart disease and a wide variety of other illnesses. CoQ10 comes in two forms - Ubiquinone and Ubiquinol. Ubiquinone is more common and widely known because it is the form most commonly sold commercially. Ubiquinone is the completely oxidized form of CoQ10. When taken, this supplement is actually metabolized within our bodies where it becomes Ubiquinol. Ubiquinol supplements are in a form that has already been reduced to being a strong antioxidant. When taken directly in this format it works more quickly and can be delivered in lower concentrations without worry that it's not being metabolized properly. The problem arises with older people like me - the ability for the body to metabolize is reduced significantly over time and many people will find that it's difficult for the body to break down Ubiquinone into Ubiquinol. So there lies the difference between the two supplements. Though it will come at a greater cost, taking Ubiquinol, especially after the age of 50 is a good idea. When purchasing CoQ10, if the bottle doesn't mention which form it is, Ubiquinone or Ubiquinol, it is usually Ubiquinone as this is the cheaper of the two forms. So, when you buy a supplement, do your due diligence on label checking. Some of the brands of COQ10 listed on an Amazon search do not come out and say that they are Ubiquinol or Ubiquinone. They talk about being "highly active" or having "superior absorption" but you have to be able to see the ingredient label on the back in order to tell what you are actually getting in the bottle. I discovered the NatureWise brand of Ubiquinol in the Amazon store and purchased a bottle of their Ubiquinol. I was very happy to see that this brand has several good things going for it: - Made in America - No polysorbate 80 - instead of soybean oil, it contains Organic Extra Virgil Olive Oil and rosemary oil extract - Kosher and GMO Free - It does NOT contain sugar starch, salt, yeast, wheat, gluten, corn, soy, dairy, eggs, nuts, shellfish, polysorbates, or heavy metal - It is ubiquinol, not ubiquinone Oh yes - did I mention it is made in the USA? This brand has everything going for it in my book. I will be an ongoing customer.