NOW Foods CoQ10 review

Is NOW CoQ10 a Good Brand? Clean Labels, but No GG and No Olive Oil

NOW keeps its ingredient lists short. Its three CoQ10 bottles differ in the form, the dose and the oil.

By The DailyWellness Research Desk

EQ10 first, then the four other bottles on this page.

The five checks, marked on an example label.

Is NOW CoQ10 a good brand? On one thing, clearly yes. NOW keeps its ingredient lists short and plain.

Its best bottle, NOW Extra Strength Ubiquinol, meets three of the checks this page reads. But no NOW bottle has GG, a building block a statin also blocks. And none of them uses olive oil.

Maybe you already buy NOW for other vitamins. Then its CoQ10 can feel like the easy pick, from a name you already trust.

Some background first. CoQ10, short for coenzyme Q10, is something your own body makes. Your cells use it to turn food into energy.

CoQ10 levels drop with age*. Blood CoQ10 also goes down on a statin, the daily pill many people take for cholesterol. That has been measured.

Three NOW bottles, two different forms

NOW sells more than one CoQ10. Three you'll see often are called NOW CoQ10 veg capsules, NOW Ubiquinol and NOW Extra Strength Ubiquinol.

They sound like one product in different strengths. They're not. The plain CoQ10 holds ubiquinone, the older form, as a dry powder in a capsule.

The two ubiquinol bottles hold ubiquinol, the ready-to-use form. It's dissolved in MCT oil, a refined oil.

One of the two holds twice as much in each softgel as the other.

The front of each bottle won't tell you this. The back will, in the Supplement Facts box, the panel with the amounts.

This page reads that box one line at a time. Then it puts the NOW bottles next to EQ10.

EQ10 is a CoQ10 softgel designed to take next to a statin. It has GG added.

Five lines to read

What to read on the back of a NOW bottle

Pick up a NOW bottle and read its back label. The Supplement Facts box sits near the top of the label. Under it, one line starts with Other ingredients.

Five lines in that small print decide how good a CoQ10 is. This page calls them the five checks.

Form: which kind of CoQ10 is in the bottle
Dose: how much CoQ10 sits in one softgel
Carrier: what the CoQ10 is dissolved in
GG: the building block a statin also blocks
Clean label: what else is inside the softgel

Each one is explained below, with the NOW bottles as the examples. The Carrier check gets the most words, because that's where the three NOW bottles differ most.

Check 1 of 5 · Form

Form: NOW sells both kinds

Form

What it is

CoQ10 comes in two forms. Ubiquinol is the ready-to-use form. It's the form your blood already carries.

Ubiquinone is the older form of CoQ10. Your body has to change it into ubiquinol first.

Why it matters

Many bottles on the shelf hold ubiquinone, the older form. The front rarely says which form is inside.

At NOW, it depends on the bottle. The NOW CoQ10 veg capsules hold ubiquinone, the older form. The two NOW Ubiquinol bottles hold Kaneka ubiquinol, the ready-to-use form.

So if you want the ready-to-use form from NOW, the word ubiquinol should be in the bottle's name.

On the label

In the Supplement Facts box, find the CoQ10 line. It starts with Coenzyme Q10, or with Ubiquinol.

The word ubiquinol on that line meets this check. Ubiquinone, or no form named at all, means the older form.

Both NOW Ubiquinol labels name Kaneka, the Japanese company that made the first ubiquinol.

Check 2 of 5 · Dose

Dose: count what's in one softgel

Dose

What it is

The dose is the amount of CoQ10, in mg, short for milligrams. It's how much sits in one softgel or capsule, not in the whole bottle.

Why it matters

This check asks for 200 mg or more in one softgel or capsule. Then one a day gets you there.

200 mg a day is the amount used in many CoQ10 studies. That includes studies of people on a statin.

NOW Extra Strength Ubiquinol meets this check, with 200 mg in each softgel. The NOW CoQ10 veg capsules meet it too, with the same amount in each capsule.

NOW Ubiquinol holds 100 mg in each softgel. With that bottle, you'd take two a day. That adds up to the same amount.

But this check is about getting it in one softgel. One a day is easier to keep up, next to your other pills.

On the label

Find Serving size at the top of the Supplement Facts box. Then read the mg on the CoQ10 line.

When the serving size is 2 softgels, one softgel holds half the printed amount.

Check 3 of 5 · Carrier

Carrier: MCT oil, or no oil at all

A softgel with CoQ10 dissolved in olive oil, marked with a check, next to a capsule of dry powder with no oil, marked with a cross. — The NOW veg capsules are the dry capsule.

Carrier

What it is

CoQ10 is a lot like butter. It dissolves in fat, not in water.

So your body takes it in best with fat around it. A good CoQ10 is dissolved in an oil, and that oil is called the carrier.

Why it matters

In head-to-head studies, the dry powder capsule came last. CoQ10 in oil came first.

The NOW CoQ10 veg capsules hold a dry powder, made with rice flour, and no oil at all. So they miss this check.

The two NOW Ubiquinol bottles are softgels, dissolved in MCT oil. MCT oil is a refined oil. The NOW labels don't say what it's made from.

Any named oil still carries the CoQ10, so MCT oil gets the ! mark, partly there. The full mark goes to olive oil, the plain kitchen oil many people prefer over seed oils.

On the label

Read the first ingredient under Other ingredients. On a NOW Ubiquinol label, that's MCT oil. On the veg capsules, it's rice flour.

Olive oil meets this check. Another named oil, like MCT oil, gets the ! mark. No oil at all is a miss.

Check 4 of 5 · GG

GG: missing from every NOW bottle

Diagram: one line in your body leads to CoQ10 and to GG. A statin slows the line, so both drop. Regular CoQ10 puts back only CoQ10. EQ10 puts back CoQ10, as 200 mg of ubiquinol, and 60 mg of GG. — NOW puts back CoQ10 only. EQ10 adds GG.

What it is

GG is short for geranylgeraniol. It's a building block your body makes in a pathway, a chain of steps inside your cells.

Your body makes CoQ10 in that same pathway. GG comes from the same pathway, the branch that isn't CoQ10.

Why it matters

A statin works on the same pathway your body uses to make CoQ10. A statin turns that whole pathway down. CoQ10 is one of the things made on it.

So on a statin, GG is blocked as well. Most CoQ10 bottles, NOW's included, only put CoQ10 back.

EQ10 adds GG back too. The idea: refill and restart, not just refill. In other words, put back both CoQ10 and GG, not only CoQ10.

If you take a statin, this is the check that sets bottles apart.

On the label

Look just under the CoQ10 line in the Supplement Facts box. GG gets its own line, as geranylgeraniol or GG, with an amount next to it.

No line means no GG. None of the NOW labels has one.

Check 5 of 5 · Clean label

Clean label: where NOW does well

Words you don't want on the back label: palm oil, soybean oil, polysorbate 80, soy lecithin, added vitamin E and titanium dioxide, and nothing bioengineered. — None of these is on the three NOW labels.

Clean label

What it is

Under the Supplement Facts box is a line most people skip. It starts with Other ingredients.

It lists everything else in the softgel or capsule: the shell, the oil, and anything added to help the factory.

Why it matters

You'll take this every day, maybe for years. So a short list, where each part has a reason to be there, is the one to want.

A clean label has no palm oil and no soybean oil. A softgel you take every day doesn't need either one.

It has no polysorbate 80, a man-made additive that helps oil and water mix. And no soy lecithin, a soy-based additive.

It should also have no added vitamin E, an extra vitamin a CoQ10 softgel doesn't need. And no titanium dioxide, a white coloring.

Last, nothing bioengineered, the word American labels use for genetically modified.

On the label

All three NOW bottles meet this check. The NOW Ubiquinol softgels list MCT oil, gelatin, glycerin, water, carob and beeswax. Carob is a plant used for color.

The veg capsules list rice flour and the plant-based capsule. They also list ascorbyl palmitate, a form of vitamin C that keeps things fresh.

Two more, magnesium stearate and silicon dioxide, are powders that help the capsules fill smoothly.

Short and plain. On this check, NOW and EQ10 look alike.

Go to the EQ10 page →

Opens EQ10's own store page. One-time purchase.

Side by side

Three NOW bottles, a Jarrow and EQ10, side by side

Here are NOW's three CoQ10 bottles next to Jarrow QH-absorb and EQ10, read from their back labels. Jarrow is another Kaneka ubiquinol in MCT oil, so it makes a fair comparison.

EQ10 comes first, in the amber column. The others follow, best first. Price shows in words, and it isn't one of the five checks.

Bottles that meet the same number of checks stand in no particular order.

The Label Panel

Read off the labelBest first · five checks · then your own bottle

Meets the check
Partly
Misses the check

The label panel: EQ10 Active CoQ10 · Statin Support, NOW Extra Strength Ubiquinol 200 mg, NOW CoQ10 200 mg veg capsules, NOW Ubiquinol 100 mg, Jarrow QH-absorb 100 mg, best first, then a column for your own bottle.
The check	EQ10 Active CoQ10 · Statin Support5/5	NOW Extra Strength Ubiquinol 200 mg3/5	NOW CoQ10 200 mg veg capsules2/5	NOW Ubiquinol 100 mg2/5	Jarrow QH-absorb 100 mg1/5	Your bottle of 5
1 · FormUbiquinol is the ready-to-use form. Ubiquinone is the older form.	✓Kaneka ubiquinol, the ready-to-use form	✓Kaneka ubiquinol, the ready-to-use form	✕Ubiquinone, the older form your body changes first	✓Kaneka ubiquinol, the ready-to-use form	✓Kaneka ubiquinol, the ready-to-use form	Says ubiquinol?
2 · DoseIn one softgel or capsule	✓200 mg in one softgel	✓200 mg in one softgel	✓200 mg in one capsule	✕100 mg in one softgel	✕100 mg in one softgel	200 mg or more in one?
3 · CarrierThe oil it sits in	✓Olive oil	!MCT oil, not olive oil	✕No oil. Dry powder in a capsule	!MCT oil, not olive oil	!MCT oil, not olive oil	Olive oil?
4 · GGThe building block a statin also blocks	✓Has GG, a building block statins also block	✕None	✕None	✕None	✕None	A line for GG?
5 · Clean labelNothing it doesn’t need	✓No palm oil, soy or polysorbate 80	✓Nothing from the problem list	✓Nothing from the problem list	✓Nothing from the problem list	!Has caramel, sunflower lecithin, mixed tocopherols	None of the words from check 5?
Price, not countedNot part of the score	Higher per bottle, less on a bundle	Mid-priced	Price varies by store	Mid-priced	Mid-priced

EQ10 Active CoQ10 · Statin Support5/5
- ✓FormKaneka ubiquinol, the ready-to-use form
- ✓Dose200 mg in one softgel
- ✓CarrierOlive oil
- ✓GGHas GG, a building block statins also block
- ✓Clean labelNo palm oil, soy or polysorbate 80
- Price, not countedHigher per bottle, less on a bundle
NOW Extra Strength Ubiquinol 200 mg3/5
- ✓FormKaneka ubiquinol, the ready-to-use form
- ✓Dose200 mg in one softgel
- !CarrierMCT oil, not olive oil
- ✕GGNone
- ✓Clean labelNothing from the problem list
- Price, not countedMid-priced
NOW CoQ10 200 mg veg capsules2/5
- ✕FormUbiquinone, the older form your body changes first
- ✓Dose200 mg in one capsule
- ✕CarrierNo oil. Dry powder in a capsule
- ✕GGNone
- ✓Clean labelNothing from the problem list
- Price, not countedPrice varies by store
NOW Ubiquinol 100 mg2/5
- ✓FormKaneka ubiquinol, the ready-to-use form
- ✕Dose100 mg in one softgel
- !CarrierMCT oil, not olive oil
- ✕GGNone
- ✓Clean labelNothing from the problem list
- Price, not countedMid-priced
Jarrow QH-absorb 100 mg1/5
- ✓FormKaneka ubiquinol, the ready-to-use form
- ✕Dose100 mg in one softgel
- !CarrierMCT oil, not olive oil
- ✕GGNone
- !Clean labelHas caramel, sunflower lecithin, mixed tocopherols
- Price, not countedMid-priced
Your bottle of 5
- FormDoes the CoQ10 line say ubiquinol, the ready-to-use form?
- DoseDoes one softgel or capsule hold 200 mg or more?
- CarrierIs the first ingredient under Other ingredients olive oil?
- GGIs there a line for GG, or geranylgeraniol?
- Clean labelIs the Other ingredients line free of palm oil, soybean oil, polysorbate 80, soy lecithin, added vitamin E and titanium dioxide, with nothing bioengineered?

Each cell comes from that bottle’s back label. The price row comes from store prices, September 2026.

Take the CoQ10 bottle you already have. It can be a NOW bottle or any other brand. Read its back label.

Give your bottle one mark for each yes.

Both NOW Ubiquinol bottles get a mark for the form and the clean label. NOW Extra Strength gets one for the dose as well.

No NOW bottle gets a mark for GG. GG gets its own line on the back only. That's the line to find.

Bottle by bottle

What each bottle does well, and where it stops

EQ10 Active CoQ10 · Statin Support5/5 checks met
EQ10 meets all five checks. Its list is short too, but the carrier is olive oil instead of MCT oil. It also lists GG, which no NOW bottle has.
NOW Extra Strength Ubiquinol 200 mg3/5 checks met
The best NOW bottle here. It holds Kaneka ubiquinol, 200 mg in one softgel, with a short, clean list. It's dissolved in MCT oil, not olive oil, and it has no GG.
NOW CoQ10 200 mg veg capsules2/5 checks met
It holds 200 mg in one capsule, with a short list. But it's ubiquinone, the older form, as a dry powder with no oil. It has no GG.
NOW Ubiquinol 100 mg2/5 checks met
The same Kaneka ubiquinol and short list as Extra Strength. But each softgel holds 100 mg, so you'd take two a day. It's in MCT oil, with no GG.
Jarrow QH-absorb 100 mg1/5 checks met
Jarrow names Kaneka ubiquinol right on the label. Each softgel holds 100 mg, in MCT oil, and the list adds caramel color and sunflower lecithin. It has no GG.

See EQ10 on its store page →

Inside EQ10

Inside one EQ10 softgel

EQ10 keeps the short list NOW is good at. It changes the oil, and it adds GG.

Here is the whole EQ10 label, line by line.

Supplement Facts

Serving size: 1 softgel

Amount per serving% Daily Value

Ubiquinol CoQ10, Kaneka®200 mg †

Trans-geranylgeraniol, GG60 mg †

† Daily Value not established.

Other ingredients: olive oil, the fat-soluble carrier; gelatin; glycerin; purified water; ascorbyl palmitate, an antioxidant.

EQ10's Supplement Facts box, as its back label reads.

Ubiquinol, 200 mg

The first line is ubiquinol, the ready-to-use form of CoQ10, made by Kaneka. It's the same kind the NOW Ubiquinol bottles use. It helps replenish CoQ10 levels*.

GG, 60 mg

The second line is GG, short for geranylgeraniol. It's the building block a statin also blocks. No NOW bottle has this line.

EQ10 adds it back. The idea: refill and restart, not just refill.

Olive oil in place of MCT oil

Then come the other ingredients. Olive oil is first. It's the carrier, the oil the CoQ10 is dissolved in.

Gelatin, glycerin and purified water make the softgel shell. Ascorbyl palmitate, a form of vitamin C, keeps the oil fresh. Nothing else is on the label, so the list is as short as NOW's.

Take one small softgel a day, in the morning with food. Blood levels take about two weeks to settle. It's made to take every day, for months, not days.

EQ10 is made to take alongside your statin, not in place of it.

Choose your EQ10 supply →

Answers

NOW CoQ10, answered

Is NOW a good CoQ10 brand?

NOW keeps its ingredient lists short and clean, and its ubiquinol comes from Kaneka. NOW Extra Strength Ubiquinol does best here. It meets three of the checks.

Its carrier is MCT oil, not olive oil. And no NOW bottle has GG, the building block a statin also blocks.

Does NOW CoQ10 have ubiquinol?

It depends on the bottle. The NOW CoQ10 veg capsules hold ubiquinone, the older form your body has to change first.

The two bottles called NOW Ubiquinol hold Kaneka ubiquinol, the ready-to-use form.

NOW Ubiquinol or NOW Extra Strength Ubiquinol?

They have the same Kaneka ubiquinol and the same short list. Extra Strength holds 200 mg in one softgel. With the regular one, you'd take two a day for the same amount.

Is NOW CoQ10 third party tested?

None of the three NOW labels on this page shows a seal from an outside tester. What the labels do show is a short, plain ingredient list.

What is MCT oil?

MCT is short for medium-chain triglycerides, a kind of fat. MCT oil is a refined oil. The NOW labels don't say what theirs is made from.

NOW uses it to carry its ubiquinol, and it does that job. Olive oil is the simpler, cleaner carrier, and it's the one in EQ10.

In short

NOW and EQ10, in short

On this page, NOW Extra Strength Ubiquinol met three checks. The other two NOW bottles met two each. EQ10 met all five.

The five checks work on any CoQ10 label:

Form: ubiquinol, the ready-to-use form
Dose: 200 mg or more in one softgel
Carrier: olive oil
GG: a line of its own, with an amount
Clean label: nothing from the list in check five

If you take a statin, look hardest at GG. A statin blocks it along with CoQ10, and most bottles only put CoQ10 back.

EQ10 has a short list like NOW's, in olive oil, with GG added. It meets all five checks.

Getting EQ10

EQ10 is sold on its own website. EQ10 is not sold on Amazon or eBay.

You pick how many months of EQ10 you want, and you pay once. This is not a subscription, so there's nothing to cancel. The choices are just below.

Choose your supply

3 months

$99.00

6 monthsPopular

$165.00

12 monthsBest value

$264.00

Start with EQ10 →

One-time purchase. This is not a subscription, so there is nothing to cancel.

Changed your mind? Full refund within 60 days.

EQ10 · 5 of 5 checks

See the #1 ranked CoQ10