Beiersdorf celebrates 25 years of NIVEA Q10 Face Care, its top Nivea face care range; brand is continuing Q10 research, noting recent cooperations with research center DESY, the University of Hamburg and Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research

• Beiersdorf launched the first anti-aging care products containing Q10 in the market in 1998
• With this pioneering work, the company paved the way for a new level in active ingredient cosmetics
• Q10 remains one of the most important anti-aging active ingredients to this day and is continuously optimized on the basis of ongoing research results

Coenzyme Q10 was discovered by the American scientist Frederick L. Crane (1957). His British colleague Peter Mitchell conducted further research into the coenzyme and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his achievements (1978). The pioneering work focusing on human skin was taken on by Beiersdorf researchers in the early 1990s: “In 1998, we succeeded in making Q10 available in anti-aging skin care products for the first time. Today, coenzyme Q10 is one of the most important active ingredients in this segment. We are equally proud of this pioneering work as we are of our other globally recognized contributions to skin research. For our consumers, we are continuously developing our Q10 formulas technologically and sensorially to improve their care performance,” emphasizes Dr. Gitta Neufang, Corporate Senior Vice President, Research and Development, at Beiersdorf. The interest in cosmetic ingredients and their functionality is constantly growing among consumers. New ingredients are launched continuously – and yet only a few have managed to become classics in anti-aging skin care. Besides hyaluronic acid and vitamin C, coenzyme Q10 is one of these classics.

To date, some 50 scientists have been involved in the research conducted into Q10, metabolic processes, and formula technologies with Q10. This has generated around 40 scientific contributions, more than ten of which were in publications reviewed by external experts. The efficacy of Q10 products was tested on over 60,000 study participants. The first patent relating to Q10 was granted in 1994; to this day, ten patents are still active. Based on their ongoing research and development work, the Beiersdorf scientists have built up a Q10 formula platform over the years. The aim here was and is to provide the coenzyme with efficient active ingredient partners. These include creatine and vitamin C, as demonstrated in a number of studies.

Coenzyme Q10, which the body produces itself, is vital to life and can be found in every cell: “Nutrients and oxygen are turned into valuable energy with the help of Q10. Q10 is therefore essential to energy metabolism and plays a part in providing approximately 95 percent of our total body energy – including in skin cells. As a natural antioxidant, it also combats free radicals which are harmful to the skin and make it age prematurely,” explains Dr. Thomas Blatt, Principal Scientist, Skin Biology, and Biological Testing Manager at Beiersdorf. The researchers are aware that the concentration of Q10 diminishes with age as well as due to stress and UV rays. “While we have been able to demonstrate its efficacy in studies again and again, our research continues to bring new and decisive details to light regarding the precise cellular regulation of Q10’s effect,” explains Dr. Julia Weise, laboratory manager in the Biological Testing department at Beiersdorf. She and a team were able to demonstrate recently using a cell model that a Q10 deficit can be replenished, and skin cells biologically rejuvenated as a result. In 2021 they published a noteworthy study that again took anti-aging research a major step forward. The researchers regularly present successes like this within the International Coenzyme Q10 Association (ICQA) founded in 1997. The Beiersdorf scientists belong to the association’s close circle of experts since the late 1990s.

In the interests of progress, Beiersdorf’s Research and Development department collaborates with leading Q10 scientists at other research institutes. Its latest cooperation with the renowned research center DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron), the University of Hamburg, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research (IAP) is just one example of its many collaborations. Under the auspices of Beiersdorf, the team responsible used an imaging technique to make Q10 introduced into skin cells visible for the first time and was able to track both its cellular uptake and the path taken by the coenzyme. The method based on the principle of X-ray fluorescence analysis and the evidence this delivered of the Q10 active ingredient making its way to where it is intended to go have caught the attention of scientists in other disciplines, for example in cancer therapy and in global Q10 research in areas other than the skin.

This underlines that even after more than two decades of Q10 research there is still a lot to discover regarding this important coenzyme and new insights into its efficacy are constantly being explored. Beiersdorf’s intensive research and development work, fueled by the further development of scientific methods, is also providing ever deeper insights into the biology of the skin. A key focus in the future will therefore continue to be on decoding the body’s own metabolic processes and deriving conclusions for the skin’s aging process – the basis for developing even more precise and better skin care.

For further information on Q10, please visit Coenzyme Q10 | Beiersdorf.