21 May 2008 345 views No Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

By Al Sears, MD

Over 100 studies have shown its direct link to heart disease. But protecting your heart is just one of the benefits of this nutrient. It’s also fights cancer, AIDS, high blood pressure, memory loss, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s. It’s even helpful in gum disease treatment and prevention.

I’m talking about Co-enzyme Q10, also called CoQ10.

Chances are you won’t hear about this super nutrient from your doctor. Although CoQ10 is widely used in Japan, Europe and Israel, the majority of cardiologists and conventional medical doctors in the U.S. ignore it. Some aggressively discourage it.

Her Doctor Threw Her CoQ10 In The Trash!
For instance, a woman came to my clinic with high blood pressure. I measured the CoQ10 level in her blood and it was very low. On my recommendation she began taking CoQ10 as an oral supplement. Remarkably, she was able to stop both blood pressure medications she was taking, and now maintains normal blood pressure without drugs. She also says she feels “energized for the first time in decades” and reports a sharper memory.

But when she returned to her cardiologist to tell him the good news, rather than rejoice in her success, he became irate. He told her CoQ10 could not possibly help her blood pressure, took her bottle of CoQ10, and threw it in the trash! Incredibly, this is not the only story like this one, and they reveal a troubling double standard. Most doctors know the uses and benefits of drugs but are uninformed, suspicious or even hostile when it comes to nutritional solutions. This is a shame.

At my Center for Health and Wellness, more than half the patients who were taking drugs for high blood pressure were able to stop their medication with CoQ10 supplementation. My experience is also supported by other researchers. In a University of Texas study, people with high blood pressure took an oral CoQ10 supplement. Within one month, they experienced marked improvements in blood pressure. Overall, 51 percent of patients were able to reduce or discontinue their blood pressure medications.

Unfortunately, without the support of pharmaceutical companies, cardiologists and other physicians, it is very difficult to get the message out about the hugely important benefits of CoQ10 supplementation.

In this article, I’m going to show you how powerful CoQ10 is to stop heart disease in its tracks (or even reverse it), to prevent numerous other diseases, to super-charge your energy levels, and to help you look and feel younger.

Energize Your Heart
CoQ10 is an essential cofactor your body uses to derive energy. You cannot survive without it. It’s a powerful antioxidant for every cell in your body. CoQ10 is essential for the normal functioning of all your major organs but is especially critical to the energy-guzzling organs like your heart, brain, kidneys, and liver. It provides your body with “high octane” fuel. CoQ10 also:

1. Destroys free radicals before they can damage your cell membranes.
2. Helps prevent arteriosclerosis by reducing the accumulation of oxidized fat in your blood vessels.
3. Eases heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
4. Reduces chest pain and improves exercise tolerance in patients with chronic stable angina.
5. Regulates the rhythm of your heart rate.

Most forms of heart disease have one thing in common: low energy production in the mitochondria (the powerhouses) of the cells. This leads to a condition researchers aptly call “the energy-starved heart.”

The very popular cholesterol lowering drugs known as “statins” also cause an energy-starved heart by blocking your body’s production of CoQ10. Drug companies know about the CoQ10-depleting side effect of statin drugs. One company even patented a statin-CoQ10 combination drug to offset the CoQ10 stripped from the body. But they decided to hold the patent without releasing the nutrient/drug combination to the public. Instead, they downplay this fact in hopes that the news about this side effect does not interfere with drug sales.

CoQ10 helps in the chemical reactions required for energy production. This is essential to keep the mitochondria working efficiently. In effect, CoQ10 provides a virtual Fountain of Youth for the cells in your heart and every other cell in your body.

Ward Off Age-Related Diseases
The energy-making process in your cells produces oxidation that can stress or damage cells. This “oxidative stress” contributes to cancer, arteriosclerosis, heart disease, cataracts, arthritis, Alzheimer’s and a number of other diseases.

CoQ10 helps the body neutralize free radicals in the cell. It reduces stress on the cells by bolstering the body’s antioxidant defenses and cleaning up free radicals before they can damage the cells. In addition, we know that when you increase levels of CoQ10 in your body, levels of other disease-fighting antioxidants go up as well, offering further protection to your cells.

Reverse Aging
As you age, your cells start running out of CoQ10, and the mitochondria simply cannot produce enough energy to meet your body’s demands. When stockpiles run low, the mitochondria are less efficient and begin running your body on a less potent fuel. Over time, cheap fuel will take its toll, damaging the mitochondria and contributing to a growing sense of fatigue. But when you restock your body with CoQ10, it rejuvenates cells and renews energy levels.

The affect of aging on CoQ10 organ levels is profound. As CoQ10 drops, it adversely affects these organs. The lack of CoQ10 to the heart muscle accelerates cardiovascular disease. The decrease of CoQ10 in the pancreas may be a factor in diabetes.

Decline of CoQ10 Levels with Aging

Tissue Affected Decrease of CoQ10

Pancreas 83%
Epidermis (skin) 75%
Heart Muscle Wall 72%
Adrenal Gland 50%
Kidney 45%
Liver 17%

Why You Need CoQ10 Supplementation
You can make CoQ10, but not enough to meet you energy needs so you must get it in your food. And while CoQ10 is in many foods, it’s highest in organ meats. Most people do not eat these meats. Even if you didn’t mind the idea of eating sheep hearts or cow brains, studies show that today’s commercially raised livestock have only one-tenth the CoQ10 of wild game. Consequently, the average diet provides less than 10 mg per day.

Aging, environmental stress, a diet deficient in specific nutrients, certain cholesterol-lowering and psychotropic drugs, chronic long duration exercise, and other lifestyle factors also reduce the levels of CoQ10 in the body.

Boost Your Body’s CoQ10 Supply
I recommend taking 30 mg of CoQ10 per day for anyone who is not regularly consuming wild game but is otherwise healthy. If you have high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol, gingivitis, age-related memory loss, chronic fatigue, or are a vegetarian, increase your dose to 100 mg per day.

You can buy CoQ10 in the form of tablets, chewable wafers, or gel caps at many nutrition stores. Powdered capsules are not as well absorbed and I don’t recommend them. Gel caps or chewable forms are absorbed better. Because CoQ10 is a fat-soluble nutrient, take it with fat from dairy, eggs, fish or meat for optimal absorption.

You can even take CoQ10 with a teaspoon of olive oil or fish oil. Grass-fed red meat, eggs and cod liver oil make the best fat choices to take with your CoQ10 because they naturally contain CoQ10.

Doses May Vary Depending On Your Needs
If you use cholesterol-lowering drugs like statins that reduce the level of CoQ10 in the body, I recommend you supplement with CoQ10.

Beta-blockers and certain psychotropic drugs like phenothiazine and tricyclic antidepressants also inhibit CoQ10-dependent enzymes, so you should speak to your doctor about supplementation with these drugs too.(5)

Patients on Coumadin therapy need to have their proteins checked at regular intervals, and should take CoQ10 only under a physician’s supervision.

CoQ10 has been shown to be effective in combination with conventional heart drugs. And with the consent of your physician, it may even allow for a reduction in dosage of conventional medicine.