Summary: Muscle damage and training or competition induced fatigue are the most common symptoms in elite sport impeding optimal training results or prohibiting competition. Are Q10 deficiencies responsible for these symptoms in elite sport and will daily supplementation prevent them. Methods: In 111 elite athletes (male: 50 - female: 61) blood level of Q10 were determined. In all elite athletes performance fatigue and muscle damage were correlated. 35elite athletes were treated with daily supplementation of 400mg Q10-Emulsion for three months. Q10, cellular ATP and creatin kinase (CK) before and after supplementation were determined and muscle damage and performance fatigue symptoms were correlated. Results: In 70% of all elite athletes (N=77/111) a blood-Q10-deficiency (<750 µg/l) was established, average levels were 653.20 ± 289.58 µg/l. In cases of young national player (U16/U18) Q10 compared to national A player were poorly supplied [Q10: 579.25 ± 233.63 µg/l vs. 751.71 ± 441.80 µg/l (p=n.s)]. Comparing the settings of Q10 < 1000µg/l vs. > 1000µg/l muscle damage were 2.34times more frequent [594 ± 190.72 µg/l vs. 1178 ± 90.85 µg/l, OR=2.34, p=0.20] in the lower group. Daily substitution of 400mg Q10-Emulsion improved Q10-level in blood significantly (670.57 ± 273.08 µg/l before vs. 2399.29 ± 810.49 µg/l after supplementation, p<0.001), significantly optimized cellular ATP (92.21 ± 10.02 %T-cells before vs 99.11 ± 1.05 %T-cells after supplement-ation, p<0.001) and significantly reduced muscular CK levels (444.76 ± 239.61 U/l before vs 265.71 ± 156.75 U/l after supplementation, p<0,01). Female athletes showed signifi-cantly greater blood levels of Q10 than male athletes (female: 725.73 ± 73 µg/l vs male: 645.29 ± 258.09 µg/l, p<0.01). Athletes suffering from muscle damage showed higher levels of CK than athletes without muscle damage (CK: 684.95 U/l muscle damage vs 250 µg/l without muscle damage). A significant absolute risk reduction of 68.6% for muscle damage (26/35 before vs 2/35 after therapy, p<0.0001) and of 51.4% for performance fatigue (21/35 before vs 3/35 after therapy, p<0.0001) were found. No side effects were observed. Conclusion: Independently to the type of sports, deficiency of Q10 in blood in elite sports was observed. Daily Q10 substitution can significantly reduce performance fatigue and muscle damage by optimizing mitochondrial ATP-energy-metabolism. Randomized treatment trials over a whole season should be performed to determine whether performance fatigue or muscle damage could be avoided through daily Q10 substitution.
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