japanese
pqq
b
pqq
usa
pqq
d
| Foodstuff | PQQ levels
(in nanogrammes
per gramme) | | Soyabean | 9 | | Potato | 17 | | Cabbage | 16 | | Carrot | 17 | | Spinach | 22 | | Banana | 13 | | Tomato | 9 | | Papaya | 27 | |
In a paper in a recent issue of the journal Nature, Takaoki Kasahara and Tadafumi Kato from the Brain Science Institute, Japan, reported that they have found a gene that encodes for a pqq-binding enzyme for the first time in any mammal. Also, they established that pqq is vital for the metabolism of lysine, an essential amino acid. Kasahara and colleagues fed mice with a pqq-deficient diet only to notice several abnormalities; they grew slowly, had fragile skin and showed poor reproductive performance. However, more research is required to establish similar effects on humans. Like vitamin b2 (riboflavin) and vitamin b3 (Niacin), pqq plays a vital role in oxidation-reduction reactions associated with energy transfer in cells. Since the molecular nature and function of pqq are quite similar to many others in the vitamin b group, it should be considered as a member of the vitamin b family. At present there are eight vitamins in the b group.