PQQ: what dose, what regulatory status, and for whom
· by VEXTA Team
The reference figure: 20 mg per day
PQQ (pyrroloquinoline quinone), as the disodium salt, was the subject of an EFSA opinion as a novel food (EFSA 2017, DOI 10.2903/j.efsa.2017.5058).
The applicant sought use in food supplements for healthy adults, excluding pregnant and lactating women, at a maximum level of consumption of 20 mg per day — corresponding to 0.29 mg per kilogram of body weight for a 70 kg person.
The PQQ assessed is produced by fermentation from Hyphomicrobium denitrificans CK-275, with a minimum purity of 99%. EFSA judged the information on composition, specifications, batch-to-batch variability, stability and production process sufficient and free of safety concerns.
The number nobody quotes: 250×
The opinion contains one figure that reframes the product entirely, and that no commercial page repeats: the proposed level of consumption is at least 250 times higher than the estimated intake of PQQ occurring naturally in foods.
This is not an alarm — the assessment concludes there is no safety concern at the proposed level. But it honestly situates what PQQ supplementation is: you are not correcting a dietary shortfall, you are administering a quantity with no relation to habitual intake.
That is useful information for deciding, and exactly the kind of nuance that separates a citable source from a sales argument.
Who it covers, and who it does not
The scope is explicit: healthy adults. Pregnant and breastfeeding women are excluded — not because a risk was demonstrated, but because the proposed use did not cover them and the data does not allow a conclusion for them.
No assessment covers children or adolescents. In the absence of data, the same caution applies.
A further safety assessment has since been published on another PQQ disodium preparation (Shiojima 2022, DOI 10.1080/15376516.2022.2076635).
In practice
20 mg per day is the reference from the European assessment, in adults. It is also, generally, the dose serious formulations settle on — a product listing substantially more sits outside the assessed scope.
On timing, no study compares dosing schedules. PQQ is frequently paired with coenzyme Q10 in commercial formulas: the pairing follows a coherent mitochondrial logic, but no published comparative trial establishes a synergy in humans.
As always: if you are on medication, the interaction question belongs with a doctor or pharmacist.