Coenzyme Q10

About half of the CoQ your body uses comes from natural foods. However, to get just 30 mg of CoQ, have to eat a whole pound of sardines or more than 2 pounds of peanuts! That is why many people choose to use CoQ supplements to make sure they have a healthy supply in their bodies. Supplemental CoQ10 is often derived from natural plant sources, including sweet beets. Natural sources of CoQ10 include oily, cold-water fish such as tuna, mackerel, and sardines; organ meats, beef, and vegetable oils such as soy or canola oil, wheat germ, rice bran, and soy foods such as tofu.

CellSparc 360™ is a combination of coenzyme Q10 - essential in the creation of energy at the cellular level - tocotrienols, and fish oil.

• Q10 at diet and health
• LE Magazine April 2000

http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2000/april00-cover.html

LE Magazine article

In an article, “How CoQ10 Protects Your Cardiovascular System”, LE Magazine (April 2000) looks at the benefits of CoQ10

LE Magazine found that at least 35 controlled clinical trials (Japan, Europe and the U.S.) showed the effectiveness of CoQ10 in reducing the incidence of congestive heart failure, angina, ischemic heart disease, and myocardial infarction. Importantly, CoQ10 levels in heart tissue decline with age, so that while at age 20, the heart has a higher CoQ10 level than other major organs, by the age of 80, heart levels are less than than half this level. Lower CoQ10 levels are found in patients with more severe heart disease. CoQ10 supplements significantly raised blood and heart tissue levels of CoQ10 in such patients.

Antioxidants prevent the oxidation of the major cholesterol-carrying blood lipid, LDL (low-density lipoprotein). LDL cholesterol is first oxidised in a chain of events that ends in artery-clogging plaque. LE Magazine concludes that “Robust antioxidant defense is therefore as important as low LDL cholesterol in maintaining arterial health.” CoQ10 and vitamin E are the body’s natural antioxidants. Most CoQ10 and vitamin E circulate through the bloodstream attached to LDL particles.

CoQ10 is thought to reduce arterial plaque, reduce oxidative damage, reduce the stages of atherosclerotic development and stabilise atheromatous plaques (fatty deposits in the arterial wall), and fibrous plaques.

Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) causes LDL oxidation. Vitamin E breaks off the chain reaction of lipid peroxidation, while CoQ10 helps to prevent it from starting. The pro-oxidant action of vitamin E is termed "tocopherol-mediated peroxidation," or TMP. Through TMP, vitamin E amplifies mild oxidative stresses so that they do much more damage to LDL. CoQ10 naturally present in the body protects against TMP, with one molecule of CoQ10 can preventing two TMP chain reactions involving as many as 40-80 free radicals. CoQ10 supplements reduce TMP, while vitamin E supplements increase it. When given together, the CoQ10 supplement significantly counteracted the TMP side-effect of the vitamin E supplement. CoQ10 cooperates with vitamin E in a complex partnership, so these "co-antioxidants" are always found together in cell membranes and LDL. CoQ10 also regenerates vitamin E, which would otherwise be quickly exhausted fighting oxidative stress. The CoQ10 naturally present in the body is therefore a crucial factor, serving as a "silent partner," amplifying the effect of vitamin E, regenerating vitamin E as it was exhausted, and preventing TMP.

LE Magazine reports that the normal blood level of CoQ10 is in the range from 0.6 to 1.4 micrograms per ml. CoQ10 supplements effect on blood levels tends to increase with age, so a nine month supplementation at 90 mg per day increased blood levels of CoQ10 by about 0.6 micrograms per ml in 35 year olds, and by 1 - 1.5 micrograms per ml in 50 - 65 year olds. CoQ10 deficiency is commonly seen in patients with heart failure, with the degree of deficiency corresponding to the degree of impairment in the function of the left ventricle. CoQ10 supplements may correct this deficiency noticeably in one to four weeks, and maximally in several months. A scientific study found that CoQ10 rapidly reduces the risk of complications and cardiac failure after a heart attack. This clinical trial showed that CoQ10 given within two to three days of the attack at 120 mg per day improved all clinical indicators measured.

CoQ10 offers protection against other oxidants such as peroxynitrite in humans.

LE Magazine reported on another test where levels of several antioxidants increased significantly in patients given CoQ10, even though CoQ10 is the only antioxidant supplement they were given. Blood levels of vitamins A, E, and C, and beta-carotene rose significantly in the CoQ10 group compared to the control group. The CoQ10 group also showed lower levels of lipid peroxidation and peroxidation byproducts such as MDA. LE Magazine concluded that CoQ10 thus exerted broad protective and preventive effects in these patients.

Cholesterol-lowering drugs like statins

Another very significant finding is that an increasingly popular and widely pomoted class of cardiovascular drugs, statins, interferes with the body's synthesis of CoQ10. Statins (drugs with names ending in "statin") are now widely prescribed to reduce cholesterol levels. These nonspecific drugs also inhibit CoQ10 synthesis along with cholesterol synthesis, significantly reducing CoQ10 blood levels. This increases the potential for long term adverse health effects.

Research in Japan suggests that there may be an important distinction between lipophilic (fat soluble) and hydrophilic (water soluble) statins. These studies found that lipophilic statins were associated with decreases in ATP levels, indicating depressed cellular energy production, while water soluble pravastatin did not have these effects. Also, patients given CoQ10 along with statins showed a rise in CoQ10, indicating that more research is needed. This supportive measure does not interfere with the cholesterol-lowering effect of the statins, yet very few physicians recommend it.

The therapeutic power of CoQ10 stems from its unique dual action inside the cell, which LE Magazine explores in the following article.

Purchase COQ10.

Further information on maintaining cardiovascular health at http://www.healthandage.com/html/res/aging_of_you/content/18.html .