Coenzyme Q-10

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Coenzyme Q-10: Energy for mitochondria 

Coenzyme Q-10 is more than the energy nutrient. It’s more than the heart-health nutrient. It’s also involved in a crime – the crime of mainstream American doctors not recommending their patients take it with the cholesterol-lowering statin drugs the doctors prescribe like so much candy.

The problem is, high cholesterol won’t kill you, heart attacks will – and an equal number of people have heart attacks with cholesterol over 200 as under 200. Indeed, studies show between 45 percent and 60 percent of patients hospitalized for a heart attack have a “normal level” of cholesterol.^1,2

The reason for this disconnect between statin use and heart-attack incidence is because statins deplete the body of co-Q10 because both co-Q10 and cholesterol are created from similar metabolic pathways, so inhibiting cholesterol biosynthesis also inhibits the synthesis of co-Q10.³

Co-Q10 powers every cell and muscle in the body, with the biggest muscle in the body being the heart, which is where co-Q10 particularly accumulates. So at the same time a person’s cholesterol is going down, his heart is getting weaker. Golf clap from the pharmaceutical industry.

When sugars and fatty acids are ferried into the mitochondria – the cell’s power plant – co-Q10 extracts these electrons from the raw materials, which are then processed by enzymes to produce energy-producing ATP. In addition, co-Q10 has antioxidant effects inside the critical mitochondrial membranes where bioenergectics take place. Oxidative damage from free radicals within the mitochondria leads to impaired ATP production, so a person has less energy. Co-Q10 equals energy. Got that? So what started out as a heart-health nutrient has also grown in application to athletes.

A heralded jock study with co-Q10 followed 25 top-level cross-country skiers in Finland who took 90 milligrams per day of co-Q10 and demonstrated significant performance improvements in aerobic and anaerobic capacity. Fully 94 percent of skiers felt that the supplement had improved their performance and recovery time, versus one-third in the placebo group.⁴

In a recent review of 11 studies in which co-Q10 was tested for an effect on exercise capacity, six showed a modest improvement, while five showed no effect. The review did find, however, significant benefit in heart-failure studies and with hypertension.⁵

Diabetes patients take note: In one particular six-month, placebo-controlled trial with 74 diabetic patients, 200 milligrams a day of co-Q10 lowered 24-hour blood pressure.⁶ A similar human trial, this one for 12 weeks, with 74 diabetics found 200 milligrams a day of co-Q10 improved blood pressure and long-term blood-sugar control.⁷

It’s also important to note at this point that the peak co-Q10 levels in people is reached at about 20 years of age, whereupon it steadily declines, with hearts 77 to 81 years old containing only 43 percent of the content as from hearts in people 19-21 years old.⁸

The take-home lesson here is to take co-Q10 – 60 milligrams a day might do you for maintenance, with 300 milligrams a day for therapeutic purposes. Mind you, it is not an inexpensive supplement to buy. But the benefits are rich.

References:

1. Kummerow FA, et al. The relationship of oxidized lipids to coronary artery stenosis. Atherosclerosis. 2000 Mar;149(1):181-90. 

2. Dzugan SA, et al. Hypercholesterolemia treatment: a new hypothesis or just an accident? Medical Hypotheses 2002;59:751?56. 

3. Okello E, et al. Combined statin/coenzyme Q10 as adjunctive treatment of chronic heart failure. Med Hypotheses 2009 Sep;73(3):306-8. 

4. Ylikoski T, et al. The effect of coenzyme Q10 on the exercise performance of cross-country skiers. Mol Aspects Med 1997;18 Suppl:S283-90. 

5. exercise, hypertension and heart failure. Biofactors 2003; 18(1-4):91-100. 

6. Chew GT, et al. Hemodynamic effects of fenofibrate and coenzyme Q10 in type 2 diabetic subjects with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction. Diabetes Care 2008 Aug;31(8):1502-9.

7. Hodgson JM, et al. Coenzyme Q10 improves blood pressure and glycaemic control: a controlled trial in subjects with type 2 diabetes. Eur J Clin Nutr 2002 No;56(11):1137-42.

8. Kalen A, et al. Age-related changes in the lipid compositions of rat and human tissues. Lipids 1989;24:579-84.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this forum is a public service of WellWise.org, and should not in any way substitute for the advice of a qualified healthcare professional and is not intended to constitute personal medical advice.