Effect of gummy candy containing ubiquinol on secretion of saliva: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel-group comparative study and an in vitro study

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 4; p. e0214495
• Main Authors: Ushikoshi-Nakayama, Ryoko, Ryo, Koufuchi, Yamazaki, Tomoe, Kaneko, Mie, Sugano, Tomoko, Ito, Yumi, Matsumoto, Naoyuki, Saito, Ichiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 03.04.2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adenosine Triphosphate - metabolism; Adult; Age; Aging; Antioxidants - metabolism; ATP; Biology and Life Sciences; Candy; Cell Line; Chronic fatigue syndrome; Clinical trials; Coenzyme Q10; Comparative literature; Comparative studies; Confectionery; Deglutition; Dentistry; Diarrhea; Double-Blind Method; Double-blind studies; Enzymes; Epithelial cells; Female; Flow rates; Flow velocity; Humans; Ingestion; Iron sulfates; Japan; Male; Malondialdehyde; Malondialdehyde - metabolism; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Mouth; Muscles; Oxidative Stress; Pathology; Physical Sciences; Placebos; Randomization; Saliva; Saliva - metabolism; Salivary gland; Salivary glands; Salivary Glands - physiology; Secretion; Surveys and Questionnaires; Systematic review; Ubiquinol; Ubiquinone - analogs & derivatives; Ubiquinone - metabolism; Ubiquinone - pharmacology; Ubiquinones; Japan
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214495

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group comparative clinical study was conducted to examine the effects of ubiquinol (the reduced form of Coenzyme Q10) on secretion of saliva. This interventional study enrolled 40 subjects aged 65 years or younger who were healthy, but noted slight dryness of the mouth. Subjects were randomized with stratification according to gender and age to ingestion of gummy candy containing 50 mg of ubiquinol or placebo twice daily for 8 weeks. At the end of study, along with a significant increase of the CoQ10 level in saliva (p = 0.025*, d = 0.65), there was a significant increase of the saliva flow rate (p = 0.048*, d = 0.66) in the ubiquinol candy group (n = 18; 47.4±6.2 years; 6 men and 12 women) compared to the placebo group (n = 20; 52.2±7.7 years; 4 men and 16 women). The strength of the stomatognathic muscles was not significantly enhanced by ingestion of ubiquinol candy. Compared with baseline, significant improvement of the following four questionnaire items was observed in the ubiquinol group at the end of the study: feeling tired (p = 0.00506, d = -0.726), dryness of the mouth (p = 0.04799, d = -0.648), prone to catching a cold (p = 0.00577, d = -0.963), and diarrhea (p = 0.0166, d = -0.855). There were no serious adverse events. An in vitro study revealed that ubiquinol stimulated a significant and concentration-dependent increase of ATP production by a cell line derived from human salivary gland epithelial cells (p<0.05), while 1 nM ubiquinol significantly suppressed (p = 0.028) generation of malondialdehyde by cells exposed to FeSO4-induced oxidative stress. These findings suggest that ubiquinol increases secretion of saliva by suppressing oxidative stress in the salivary glands and by promoting ATP production. Trial Registration: UMIN-CTR UMIN000024406.