Pyrroloquinoline quinone, also known as PQQ, is a novel factor found in a variety of different foods. In humans, the benefits reported from taking a PQQ supplement range from improvements in cognitive function to an overall reduction in internal inflammation. Recent published research also suggests that taking a PQQ supplement has the potential to stimulate mitochondrial function (the primary energy source in cells) and protects from excessive oxidative damage, a major cause of rapid cell aging.
Like many vitamins and regulatory factors, PQQ was first recognized as a cofactor (a component essential to enzyme action) in bacteria. It has also been examined as a potent plant growth factor. In humans and animals, PQQ acts in a similar fashion to resveratrol or quercetin (so-called food biofactors) in that it serves as a mimic-signaling molecule important to sustaining cellular functions and mitochondrial action.
For animals and humans, there has been a constant exposure to PQQ. For example, soil bacteria that have a symbiotic or mutually favorable relationship with plants make it. PQQ-like substances have even been identified as components of stellar dust. This is important because unlike many other healthful biofactors, that lends proof that each of us has had exposure to PQQ. Accordingly, it is not surprising that when fed diets devoid of PQQ, a broad range of biological functions with apparent survival benefits (optimal growth, development, and reproductive performance) are diminished and compromised. As a supplement, PQQ has many of the same benefits as the beneficial flavonoids found in chocolate and green tea.