CoQ10

CoQ10: Most Brands Are Virtually Worthless

Coenzyme Q10, or CoQ10 for short, is one of the most important nutrients and widely recommended by nutritionally-oriented physicians because of its ability to protect against heart disease, high blood pressure, premature aging, gum disease, free radical damage and various other degenerative health conditions, and it helps safeguard the health of the brain and bolster immune function. CoQ10 also is important for healthy skin, and can help protect against skin cancer. In addition, CoQ10 plays a vital role in maintaining the healthy function of your cells’ energy factories, the mitochondria. According to Dr. Robert Jay Rowan, one of our nation’s top holistic physicians, the overall health benefits of CoQ10 have been proven by over 1,500 peer-reviewed scientific studies



CoQ10 is produced naturally by your body. However, peak production of CoQ10 occurs in one’s early 20s. After that, the body’s production of CoQ10 begins to decline, in most cases precipitously so once reaches age 40. Since CoQ10 isn’t readily found in food, and because it is so important for optimal health, it is not surprising that the use of CoQ10 supplements have dramatically increased during the last two decades, as more doctors and lay people have learned about the significant health benefits it provides. (Ironically, few cardiologists in the United States recommend CoQ10 to their patients despite the fact that CoQ10 plays such an important role in preventing and helping to reverse most types of heart disease.)



Unfortunately, in the majority of case, the CoQ10 supplements that people use today are virtually worthless unless they are taken in extremely high doses. That’s because the majority of CoQ10 supplements being sold today contain a form of CoQ10 known as ubiquinone



What’s Wrong With Ubiquinone?

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Two things, actually. First, ubiquinone is very poorly absorbed. In fact, only 4 percent of ubiquinone taken orally is able to be absorbed by the body. That means that 96 percent of the ubiquinone is not able to be used by your body. Instead, it simply gets eliminated in your urine. (Yes, this is one of the rare examples in which the “expensive urine” attack made against supplements by the pro-pharmaceutical drug camp is true.)



Because of how poorly ubiquinone is able to be absorbed and used by your body, you would have to take megadoses of it before you experienced the health benefits CoQ10 provides. Dr. Rowan states that the average person would need to consume 3,000 mg of ubiquinone a day to receive any benefit. Considering that CoQ10 supplements are usually in the range of 30 to 100 mg, you can easily understand why a daily intake of 3000 mg of ubiquinone would be a very expensive proposition.



But even if you can afford such an extreme measure, there is still another problem with ubiquinone. And that is that, before the small percentage of ubiquinone that your body is able to absorb can be used, it first must be converted into ubiquinol, the primary version of CoQ10 that is produced by your body. (CoQ10 found in blood has a composition that is 95 percent ubiquinol.) This conversion requires energy being used by your body that would otherwise be used for other purposes.



So What’s the Solution?



Although your body requires and produces both forms of C0Q10, it’s clear that ubiquinol is by far the most essential form. Based on that fact, you may wonder why manufacturers of CoQ10 chose to market ubiquinone formulas over ubiquinol. The answer to that question, until recently, was ubiquinol, when exposed to oxygen (oxidation), turns into ubiquinone as a direct result of the oxidation process. Given that fact, from a manufacturer’s standpoint, there would be little reason to bring ubiquinol to market when it would quickly turn into ubiquinone in the presence of oxygen. That’s why, today, most CoQ10 products on the market are made up of ubiquinone, not ubiquinol.



Fortunately, this trend is starting to change thanks to recent innovations that allows manufacturers to make a stabilized form of ubiquinol that effectively resists the oxidation process. In addition, researchers have proven that the human body is far better able to absorb this stabilized form of ubiquinol compared to ubiquinone. As a result, the studies show, amounts of ubiquinol that are nearly a tenth the amount of ubiquinone are able to provide the same benefits. In short, this means that you get far greater benefit from ubiquinol in lower doses than you do from ubiquinone. Just as importantly, the ubiquinol form of CoQ10 has been shown to be far more effective for protecting body cholesterol from oxidizing. (It’s the oxidation process, rather than cholesterol levels themselves, that is the reason cholesterol has been linked to heart disease; when cholesterol does not oxidize, it poses little to no threat for heart disease.)



Based on all of these facts, it’s clear that the best choice for CoQ10 supplementation is to use stabilized ubiquinol, not ubiquinone. Although such products typically cost more than the more common standard CoQ10 products, they are far more effective for providing the health benefits you want. So, the next time you buy a CoQ10 supplement, be sure that you check the label. Because if you’re buying ubiquinone, you are in effect throwing your money away.



Note: If you are on any of the following prescription medicines, please consult with your physician before using CoQ10: ACE inhibitors, anticoagulants, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, diabetes drugs, diuretics, dopamine-enhancers, insulin, and HMG Co-A Reductase Inhibitors. The use of CoQ10 benefits may require that the dosages o such drugs be changed. Pregnant women should also consult with their doctors before using CoQ10.



Also note that statin drugs significantly reduce CoQ10 levels in the body, thereby increasing the need for CoQ10 supplementation.





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The Health Plus Letter, February 19, 2009, Vol. 7, No. 5. Copyright © 2009 by Larry Trivieri, Jr. All rights reserved.