Ingredient Evidence Review
PQQ (Dihydrogen-PQQ)
Pyrroloquinoline quinone (reduced form)
Last updated 2026-05-19 · 3 primary citations
Mechanism
PQQ is a small molecule that signals your cells to grow new mitochondria — the cellular power plants that decline with age. Most of what is known about that signalling comes from cell and animal work; the human cognitive trials are small and their results are mixed.
Why we use it
Longevity's brain-energy strategy. While Lion's Mane addresses brain-cell growth, PQQ addresses brain-cell fuel. Where we would push back on our own copy: the human evidence here is thinner than the mechanism suggests, and the one trial run in the 45–64 band did not reach significance.
How we dose it
Hericea uses 20 mg per serving (per AM stick pack). The clinical trial range that anchors this dose is 10–40 mg/day.
20 mg of PQQ in its reduced form — the version your body can use directly. Human trials cluster at 20 mg/day, so this sits at the tested dose rather than above it.
Quality & sourcing
Reduced-form PQQ (Dihydrogen-PQQ); Alpha Hope or equivalent.
Reduced-form PQQ; not oxidized PQQ.
Primary literature
Baltic S et al. (2024)
J Nutr Health AgingCombination formulaRCT · 34 people · 6 weeks · Elderly with mild cognitive impairment
A combination of dihydrogen-producing minerals plus PQQ improved cognitive test scores and brain oxygenation over 6 weeks.
Often cited as PQQ evidence. It tested a combination product, so no effect can be attributed to PQQ on its own.
PMID 38908296
Itoh Y et al. (2016)
Adv Exp Med BiolRCT · 41 people · 12 weeks
PQQ 20 mg/day for 12 weeks was associated with improvements in attention and cognitive measures in healthy middle-aged and elderly adults.
The cleanest single-ingredient PQQ trial at our dose.
PMID 26782228
Chowanadisai W et al. (2010)
J Biol ChemMechanism
PQQ stimulated growth of new mitochondria in mammalian cells.
The mechanism paper — explains why PQQ does anything: it tells your cells to build more power plants.
PMID 19861415