Co-Q10
Strengthen your Heart Muscle
What is Co-Q10 for?
Coenzyme Q-10 (CoQ-10) is a vitamin-like substance found throughout the body, but especially in the heart, liver, kidney, and pancreas. It is eaten in small amounts in meats and seafood. Coenzyme Q-10 can also be made in a laboratory. It is used as medicine.
Many people use coenzyme Q-10 for treating heart and blood vessel conditions such as congestive heart failure (CHF), chest pain (angina), high blood pressure, and heart problems linked to certain cancer drugs. It is also used for diabetes, gum disease (both taken by mouth and applied directly to the gums), breast cancer, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, muscular dystrophy, increasing exercise tolerance, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and Lyme disease. Some people think coenzyme Q-10 will treat hair loss related to taking warfarin (Coumadin), a medication used to slow blood clotting.
Some people also think coenzyme Q-10 might help increase energy. This is because coenzyme Q-10 has a role in producing ATP, a molecule in body cells that functions like a rechargeable battery in the transfer of energy. Coenzyme Q-10 been tried for treating inherited or acquired disorders that limit energy production in the cells of the body (mitochondrial disorders), and for improving exercise performance.
Some people have also used coenzyme Q-10 for strengthening the immune systems of people with HIV/AIDS, male infertility, migraine headache, and counteracting muscle pain sometimes caused by a group of cholesterol-lowering medications called “statins.”
Coenzyme Q-10 has even been tried for increasing life span. This idea got started because coenzyme Q-10 levels are highest in the first 20 years of life. By age 80, coenzyme-Q10 levels can be lower than they were at birth. Some people thought that restoring high levels of coenzyme-Q10 late in life might cause people to live longer. The idea works in bacteria, but not in lab rats. More research is needed to see if this works in people.
It’s not only time that uses up the body’s store of coenzyme Q-10. Smoking does, too.
Coenzyme Q-10 was first identified in 1957. The “Q-10” refers to the chemical make-up of the substance. These days coenzyme Q-10 is used by millions of people in Japan for heart disease, especially congestive heart failure. Coenzyme Q-10 is also used extensively in Europe and Russia. Most of the coenzyme Q-10 used in the US and Canada is supplied by Japanese companies. Coenzyme Q-10 is manufactured by fermenting beets and sugar cane with special strains of yeast.
What is Co-Q10 Possibly Effective for?
• Coenzyme Q-10 deficiency. This is a very rare condition. The symptoms include weakness, fatigue, and seizures.
• Inherited or acquired disorders that limit energy production in the cells of the body (mitochondrial disorders). Improvement in symptoms is slow. Some people have to take coenzyme Q-10 for six months to get the most benefit.
• Improving blood sugar control in people with diabetes. There is conflicting evidence about the effectiveness of coenzyme Q-10 for diabetes.
• Breast cancer. There is preliminary evidence that taking coenzyme Q-10 by mouth might be helpful in advanced breast cancer, along with surgery and conventional treatment plus other antioxidants and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
• Male infertility. There is some evidence that coenzyme Q-10 treatment can improve the movement of sperm.
• Chest pain (angina). Some early research suggests that taking coenzyme Q-10 by mouth might improve exercise tolerance in patients with angina.
• A heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Taking coenzyme Q-10 by mouth seems to decrease the thickness of the heart wall, and decrease symptoms of shortness of breath and fatigue.
• A muscle condition called “statin-induced myopathy.” Statins, a class of drugs used to lower cholesterol, can sometimes cause muscle pain. There is some evidence that taking coenzyme Q-10 might reduce this pain, but not all evidence has been positive.
• Prevention of pre-eclampsia. Pre-eclampsia is a condition that some women get during pregnancy. Some research shows that women who are at risk for developing this condition have a lower chance of getting it if that take coenzyme Q-10 from week 20 of pregnancy until the baby is delivered.
• Hair loss related to use of the warfarin, a “blood thinning” drug.
• Fatigue.
• Lyme disease.
