Health Alert 3
What do cancer, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, senility, gum disease and heart attacks all have in common? The answer is that they often share a common cause. I’m talking about a deficiency of a vital nutrient called coenzyme Q10.
When I discuss CoQ10 with my patients, many have heard of it. They can tell me something like “Yeah, that’s supposed to be good for you.” But few are aware of its essential importance — or just how difficult it is to get optimal levels from the typical American diet.
CoQ10 is a relatively recent addition to the list of essential nutrients. It was first isolated from cow’s hearts at the University of Wisconsin in 1957. At that time, nutritionists presumed they had a complete list of nutritional requirements for good health. Recent research has proved that presumption very wrong.
* The Most Powerful Nutritional Therapy *
There have been at least 100 studies at major universities and hospitals linking CoQ10 deficiency with heart disease alone. CoQ10 is required for deriving energy from oxygen. Without it, energy-guzzling organs like your heart, brain, kidneys and liver suffer.
Deprive your heart of CoQ10 and its available energy declines leading to a decrease in the volume of blood pumped. If your heart pumps less blood than it receives, fluid backs up and your heart swells like a water balloon. We call this congestive heart failure.
There is no better treatment for congestive heart failure than the simple oral administration of CoQ10. In my experience, it has worked better than any medication I have ever used. Many cases appear to be completely resolved after CoQ10.
Many cases of high blood pressure share a similar mechanism. About 50% of patients coming to me treated with high blood pressure medications have stopped that medication with nothing more than adding CoQ10.
CoQ10 is in high concentrations in the brain where it helps to generate much needed energy. Brain levels begin declining at the age of 20 and are lowest in stroke victims and those with neurodegenerative diseases. There is growing evidence that CoQ10 is neuroprotective and may stave off the very difficult problem of loss of memory with age.
In addition to supplying energy, CoQ10 is a powerful antioxidant. The “slow burn” we use for fuel tends to damage tissues like fire oxidizes everything it contacts. The action of antioxidants quenches this fire in adjacent structures and protects them from damage.
In nature’s usual wisdom, she has assigned this dual role to CoQ10. The same molecule we use to derive fuel from food protects us from the effects of burning that fuel.
* Getting Enough Isn’t Easy *
• Although we can make some CoQ10, we don’t make enough of it for optimum health. And its production declines with age. The principle source of CoQ10 is red meat. Just like our bodies, it is concentrated in the organs. And that’s the problem.
• Traditional societies placed the highest value on the internal organs of their catch. When is the last time you had deer kidney or cow brains or lamb heart? I’m not necessarily recommending that you do. Studies show that levels of CoQ10 in commercial livestock are very low when compared to wild game. These animals are fed an unnatural diet of grains. Confinement prevents adequate exercise and they are artificially fattened with hormones. These conditions inhibit healthy CoQ10 levels.
• This is one of the strongest cases to support the use of dietary supplements. I have measured CoQ10 in many patients. Here’s what I’ve found:
• Young people (20’s or younger) have good levels.
• Deficiencies are common in the forties and beyond.
• People doing long-duration endurance exercise have low levels.
• Deficiencies are very common in heart disease, vegetarians and elders.
I recommend 30 mg of CoQ10 per day to anyone who is not regularly consuming wild game but is otherwise healthy. If you have high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol, gingivitis, age related memory loss, chronic fatigue or are a vegetarian, increase your dose to 100 mg per day.
CoQ10 is available at many nutrition stores but you may have to do some searching to find the adequate therapeutic doses I recommend. Coenzyme Q10 is soluble in oil only. So like vitamin E, you should eat some kind of fat or oil with your CoQ10 or your gut won’t absorb it very well.
One more thing about CoQ10 — its production is blocked by the “statin” cholesterol lowering drugs like Mevacor, Zocor and Lipitor. In the next installment, I’ll discuss cholesterol lowering drugs – and why it’s better to look for other ways to lower your cholesterol.
Al Sears, MD