Effect of the Antioxidant Supplement Pyrroloquinoline Quinone Disodium Salt (BioPQQ™) on Cognitive Functions

Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) is a quinone compound first identified in 1979. It has been reported that rats fed a PQQ-supplemented diet showed better learning ability than controls, suggesting that PQQ may be useful for improving memory in humans. In the present study, a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded study to examine the effect of PQQ disodium salt (BioPQQ™) on cognitive functions was conducted with 41 elderly healthy subjects. Subjects were orally given 20 mg of BioPQQ™ per day or placebo, for 12 weeks. For cognitive functions, selective attention by the Stroop and reverse Stroop test, and visual-spatial cognitive function by the laptop tablet Touch M, were evaluated. In the Stroop test, the change of Stroop interference ratios (SIs) for the PQQ group was significantly smaller than for the placebo group. In the Touch M test, the stratification analyses dividing each group into two groups showed that only in the lower group of the PQQ group (initial score