CoQ10 (a.k.a. Coenzyme Q10) – What is this?

CoQ10 is the abbreviation for Coenzyme Q10 which  is known by several different names, including ubiquinone and ubidecarenone and several others.  CoQ10 is considered, by some, to be almost like a vitamin as it is something that our bodies need.  Our bodies actually use a number of vitamins present in our bodies in order to manufacture the coenzyme Q10.     CoQ10 is also needed by our cells to function, and are therefore found in all the tissues and organs of our bodies.   CoQ10 is also important in making cellular energy for the cells of the tissues and organs to do their jobs.    It is also a defense against free radicals that attack and oxidize the cells of our bodies.  Free radicals are molecules that either have one more or one less electron, making them really unstable.  Free radicals contribute to aging and disease by attacking the cells of our bodies.  CoQ10, however, attacks these free radicals (it is an antioxidant) and lessens the damage to the cells in our bodies.  This has been shown to be important in preventing free radical damage in our blood vessels, hopefully lessening the progression of buildup of plaque in our arteries.

Unfortunately, coenzyme Q10 begins to decrease as we get older.  I’ve read somewhere that it actually starts decreasing by the time we are twenty years old! You can get some  CoQ10  in small amounts of foods that you may eat, for example, liver, heart, kidneys, peanuts and sardines. But you can also buy CoQ10 in supplement form as well if you don’t tend to eat these foods.

Unfortunately, I don’t believe that Coenzyme Q-10 has really gotten the attention it deserves.  It is much more lucrative for a pharmaceutical company if they develop medications and patents on products for treating diseases that have already developed.  Coenzyme Q-10, on the other hand,  cannot receive a patent.  This means that pharmaceutical companies are less willing to spend their money on research on products that will not make them any money, and hence the medical community does not get educated on something that could potentially prevent diseases in the first place.

Coenzyme Q10  has also been found to be low in people with heart problems, particularly congestive heart failure.  The cells that make up the heart need a lot of energy, and so the heart requires a lot of CoQ10 to do its job.  It is not clear if low amounts of Coenzyme Q-10 in the heart result in heart failure or if heart failure results in low levels of CoQ10.    Any way you look at it though, it is known that the worse the congestive heart failure is, the more deficient that person is in CoQ10.

Further information on a quality Coenzyme Q-10 supplement can be found by clicking the photo below: