Dear Health Conscious Reader,
You don’t set out to become frail and weak in your old age. But a study I’m looking at right now suggests that’s exactly what will happen to you.
This study shows that oxidative stress is causing your muscles to waste away.1
Oxidative stress is when you have too many damaged molecules, called “free radicals,” in your body. They attack your healthy cells.
When free radicals attack your muscle cells, they drain them of energy and strength. The cells become damaged, or they weaken and die. It makes your muscles shrivel up, and you become weak.
Your muscles are the key to remaining youthful. Because, if you lose your muscle mass, your motor skills begin to fail.
You need motor skills to do things like lift your head, sit down and get up, and keep your balance. Motor skills make it possible for you to do small tasks, too. Like eating with a fork or writing with a pen.
You can protect your muscles and your motor skills if you increase your antioxidants. At least five new studies in the past year point to it. Antioxidants fight free radical damage that causes oxidative stress. They protect your muscles and motor function.2
There are a lot of antioxidants. But the most important antioxidant to prevent this oxidative stress in your muscles is Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10).
The reason I focus on CoQ10 for this purpose is because of CoQ10’s role. CoQ10 is the energy molecule for muscle cells. You concentrate CoQ10 in the energy “factories” inside muscle cells.
CoQ10 has 50 times the free radical fighting effect as vitamin E.3 But CoQ10 does more than that. It’s the fuel and spark plug that is needed to create energy in your cells.
Your muscles need CoQ10 to make energy.4 And when your muscles have enough energy, you stay strong and healthy.
Your body produces its own CoQ10. But after age 20, you make less and less. Once you’re 50, your production drops off fast. And if you take a statin, it blocks CoQ10 along with the cholesterol.
It’s tough to get enough CoQ10 from food. Beef is the best natural source of CoQ10, and organ meat such as heart and liver contains the highest amount. Our ancient ancestors prized organ meats for good reason. If you’re vegetarian, it takes around 15 jars of peanut butter to give you a daily dose.
But unless you eat it every day, you’ll need to take a supplement.
When you go to the vitamin store, you may come across two forms: “ubiquinone” and “ubiquinol.”
Ubiquinone is fat-soluble. It’s harder for your body to absorb. If you take this form of CoQ10, take it with some fat, such as a spoonful of peanut butter or avocado.
Ubiquinol is a reduced form of CoQ10. It’s both fat- and water-soluble. So it’s much easier for your body to absorb. It may cost a little more, but you need less of it.
I suggest you look for the reduced form of CoQ10 – ubiquinol.
Start with as little as 50 mg per day, if you’re not trying to treat a specific condition.
You can have your CoQ10 measured in your blood. In patients where we’ve recognized deficiencies, we sometimes work up to 100-200 mg.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
- Jang, Y et al. “Increased superoxide in vivo accelerates age-associated muscle atrophy through mitochondrial dysfunction and neuromuscular junction degeneration,” FASEB Journal. 2009. E-Pub ahead of print.
- Bonetto, A. Penna, F. et al. “Are antioxidants useful for treating skeletal muscle atrophy?” Free Radical Biology and Medicine. October 2009; 47(7):906-916).
- Langsjoen, P. “Urgent Update on Ubiquinone Co Q10” Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine. Accessed 2007.
- Barbiroli B., et al. “Coenzyme Q10 improves mitochondrial respiration in patients with mitochondrial cytopathies. An in vivo study on brain and skeletal muscle by phosphorous magnetic resonance spectroscopy.” Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-le-grand). 1997 Jul;43(5):741-9.