Dear Health Conscious Reader,
You know that I don’t often tell you to take supplements when you can find it in food. But there is one supplement I recommend to all of my patients and take myself every day.
It is Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10).
CoQ10 puts cancer into remission and is such a powerful heart cure, it reverses heart disease. It acts like a generator for every organ in your body. It increases energy so they function at their best.
CoQ10 is key to the protection of your body’s cells. It’s just like the key you use to lock your front door, keeping you safe and secure. Without enough CoQ10, your cells become weak and open to attack.
Now, CoQ10 is proven to fight what I believe is the root cause of all disease: inflammation.
An obesity study centered on mice that were fed a high-fat, high-fructose diet – just like the junk food diet many people eat. Not surprisingly, the mice developed inflammation and disease complications. When CoQ10 was added, inflammation decreased.1
This is great news if you have a few pounds to lose. CoQ10 will help guard against diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and every disease associated with obesity.
CoQ10 has so many benefits, it’s surprising foods are not fortified with it.
The best natural source of CoQ10 is red meat, especially organ meat. Our ancestors had it made. They thrived on a diet of fresh beef heart and liver. You can too, simply by adding grass-fed organ meat once or twice a week to your diet.
If you don’t like dining on hearts and liver, you can get almost the same level of this important coenzyme by eating a juicy steak a few times a week.
This will give you an idea of the concentrations of CoQ10 found
in meats:2,3|
Food Item |
Coenzyme Q10 (mcg/g) |
|
Pork heart |
126.8-203 |
|
Beef heart |
113.3 |
|
Pork |
24.3-41.1 |
|
Beef liver |
39.2 |
|
Beef |
31.0 – 36.5 |
|
Pork liver |
22.7 |
|
Chicken |
14.0 – 21.0 |
|
Pork ham |
20 |
Whether or not you’re a meat eater, your body still may be deficient. Here are three things that cause a deficiency:4
- Missing Nutrients: Your body needs vitamins to use CoQ10. If you’re missing vitamins B2, B3, B6, B12, vitamin C, folic acid, or pantothenic acid, you may be in trouble.
- Drugs: Statins, beta blockers, diabetic medications, or other drugs rob your body of CoQ10.
- Drain: Obesity, exercising like a maniac, or severe shock causes inflammation. It uses up CoQ10.
This is why I recommend taking a CoQ10 supplement. Every tissue in your body responds to CoQ10. So every disease or dysfunction responds well when it’s added to your diet.
Here’s what you can do right now to increase CoQ10 and decrease inflammation:
- Include CoQ10 to help reverse the effects of inflammation. You can take the usual ubiquinone if you’re under 25. Take the more potent form, ubiquinol, if you’re over 25.
- I usually take 50 mg as a “baseline” preventative. If there are health problems, I gradually increase the dosage up to 400 mg.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
- Sohet, F., Neyrinck, A., et al. “Coenzyme Q10 supplementation lowers hepatic oxidative stress and inflammation associated with diet-induced obesity in mice” Biochemical Pharmacology Dec09; 78(11): 1391-1400.
- Kamei et al., “The distribution and content of ubiquinone in foods,” Internat. J. Vit. Nutr. Res. 56 (1986) 57-63.
- Mattila, et al., “Coenzymes Q9 and Q10: contents in foods and dietary intake,” Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 14 (2001) 409-417.
- “Introduction to Coenzyme Q10” by Peter H. Langsjoen, MD., F.A.C.C. A4M Conference 2007