CoQ10: The ‘magic bullet’ for a healthy energetic life

Of all the vitamins and minerals, there’s one that seems to hold the key to aging well…

Low levels of this nutrient have been linked to heart disease, brain disorders, diabetes, and cancer.

It helps protect skin from premature aging, helps ease migraines, and acts as an antioxidant that protects your lungs from asthma.

Your body actually produces its own supply of this compound, and research is showing that it may indeed be the “magic bullet” that lets you live a longer, healthier life.

What is CoQ10?

Coenzyme Q10, better known simply as CoQ10, is a vitamin-like, fat-soluble compound that your body produces naturally, and stores in the mitochondria of your cells.

Your mitochondria need CoQ10 in order to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the molecule that delivers energy to your cells. Your body needs this energy to perform the functions that support life.

You also need this energy to do the things that you enjoy and that are so good for you, such as dancing, swimming, even going for a walk.

As we age, we naturally produce less and less Coenzyme Q10, and so end up having less energy and may see health problems begin to develop.

But there are ways we can push back against this part of the aging process and retain the energy we need to do the things that give our life meaning.

One thing we can do is make sure we are getting CoQ10 from our food and from supplements.

But before we go there, let’s give you an idea of just how important CoQ10 is in preserving your health as you age…

3 big ways CoQ10 can protect your health and longevity

1. Improves symptoms of heart failure. When the heart reaches a point where it cannot contract, relax, or pump blood through the body, due to coronary heart disease or high blood pressure, heart failure occurs.

In 420 people with heart failure, taking Coenzyme Q10 supplements for two years improved their symptoms and reduced their risk of dying from heart problems.

2. Helps control blood sugar and cholesterol. In experiments, supplementing with CoQ10 has lowered LDL (“bad” cholesterol), increased HDL (“good” cholesterol), and significantly lowered the amount of sugar in the blood of people with type 2 diabetes.

3. Guards against oxidative stress. CoQ10 plays an important role in preventing oxidative stress and protecting cell DNA. Oxidative damage to cells can cause diseases, including cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and Parkinsons.

In addition, low blood levels of CoQ10 have been detected in people with breast and prostate cancer.

Why don’t you have enough CoQ10?

Aside from your aging body producing less and less of this life-saving nutrient (a steady decline begins in our 20s), there are other things that may cause a deficiency in CoQ10:

A vitamin B6 deficiency. B6 is necessary for the synthesis of CoQ10, so a deficiency in one leads directly to a deficiency in the other.

Chronic stress. Stress is a killer for many reasons. Being chronically stressed can cause your mitochondria to produce insufficient amounts of ATP.

Statins. Read what Dr. Isaac Eliaz has to say about how these widely prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs can contribute to severe and often irreversible mitochondrial damage.

Getting more CoQ10 from food and supplements

Eating foods with Coenzyme Q10, or taking supplements, are both good ways to get more of this life-extending nutrient.

Supplements may lower blood pressure and blood sugar levels, so check with your doctor before taking them if you are on medications, or if either of these conditions is of concern to you.

Having an overactive or underactive thyroid has been shown to affect levels of CoQ10 in the body. However, there doesn’t appear to be research on whether CoQ10 supplementation affects thyroid hormone levels or thyroid medication.

If you want to start adding Coenzyme Q10 through your diet, you have plenty of options. Foods that have CoQ10 include:

• Organ meats (heart, liver, and kidney)
• Fatty fish (trout, herring, and sardine)
• Vegetables (spinach, cauliflower, and broccoli)
• Fruit (oranges and strawberries)
• Legumes (soybeans, lentils, and peanuts)
• Nuts and seeds (sesame seeds and pistachios
• Oils (soybean and canola oil)

Sources:

1. Coenzyme Q10 Plays Many Roles As Anti-Aging Nutrient — NutritonReview.org
2. 9 Benefits of Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) — Healthline
3. The effect of coenzyme Q10 on morbidity and mortality in chronic heart failure: results from Q-SYMBIO: a randomized double-blind trial — JACC: Journal of the American College of Cardiology
4. Novel CoQ10 antidiabetic mechanisms underlie its positive effect: modulation of insulin and adiponectine receptors, Tyrosine kinase, PI3K, glucose transporters, sRAGE and visfatin in insulin resistant/diabetic rats — PLoS On
5. Coenzyme Q10: CoQ10 — WebMD
6. Can taking CoQ10 affect my thyroid levels or interact with my thyroid medication? — Consumerlab.com