By Dr. Linda J. Dobberstein, DC, Board Certified in Clinical Nutrition
When you are young and healthy, your body makes ample amounts of energy – just look at toddlers and preschoolers constantly on the go! It makes you want to bottle up that energy so you can get through the day with your to-do-list. To make that energy, your body needs several nutrients and healthy, energized mitochondria. One of the nutrients at the forefront for energy is coenzyme Q10. It’s a nutrient that you can’t live without, yet several factors including age and commonly used meds contribute to diminished levels in your body. Are you keeping up with your coenzyme Q10 needs?
Coenzyme Q10 Declines with Age
Coenzyme Q10 is a vitamin-like substance naturally made within our cells. When you are young and healthy, your body produces about 500 mg of coenzyme10 (coQ10) per day. With age, production levels decline. Compared to a healthy 25-year-old, there is 50 percent less production of coenzyme Q10 at 65 years of age.
In addition to age, there are other reasons for declining Q10 levels in your body. These include increased oxidative stress that exceeds your body’s ability to keep up with production and stress-related defects in production. Several medications also deplete or interfere with Q10 levels.
Coenzyme Q10’s Invaluable Roles
Coenzyme Q10 is of vital importance in cellular function. Its most important role relates to cellular energy production or ATP synthesis through mitochondria oxidative phosphorylation. It acts as an electron carrier, or a spark plug for energy production.
CoQ10 is a fat-soluble antioxidant required to protect cell membranes and the contents of cells from oxidative stress. It plays a role in cellular metabolism, including that of normal cholesterol production and management. CoQ10 also affects numerous gene signals and modulates inflammatory responses in cells.
Effects of Insufficient Coenzyme Q10
Reduced production of coenzyme Q10 has profound effects in your mitochondria due to its central role in mitochondria and ATP production. It changes mitochondria’s ability to make energy and burn sugar and fat for fuel.
In addition, a decline in coQ10 and decreased antioxidant support leads to higher production of free radicals inside the mitochondria and cells. Because mitochondria are in all organs, these effects lead to fatigue and make you age faster. It is vital to maintain and restore coenzyme Q10 levels in cells – especially when faced with high stress, wear-and-tear, and certain medications.
Meds that Impact Coenzyme Q10 Levels
If you use a drug that robs your body of a fundamental substance like Q10, your organs and cells suffer the consequences. Several popular medications, including statin cholesterol lowering medications, beta-blockers, and some anti-depressants deplete and/or interfere with coenzyme Q10. Hundreds of millions of people taking these meds may be unaware of why they feel so poor and health has declined.
Statins Deplete Q10
Statin cholesterol lowering medications interfere with the production of coenzyme Q10, leading to tissue deficits throughout your body. Types of statin drugs include Atorvastatin (Lipitor), Fluvastatin (Lescol XL), Lovastatin (Altoprev), Pitavastatin (Livalo, Zypitamag), Pravastatin (Pravachol), Rosuvastatin (Crestor, Ezallor) and Simvastatin (Zocor).
Recognized statin-drug side effects include memory changes, muscle spasms and weakness. Statins interfere with heart, kidney, liver, pancreas function and blood sugar, and contribute to diminished production of adrenal and sex steroid hormones.
Beta-blockers
Beta-blockers or beta-adrenergic blocking agents are used to treat heart arrhythmias and high blood pressure. These types of meds include propranolol, metoprolol, atenolol, and others. They interfere with coQ10 in a different way than statin meds. Statins and beta-blockers are often used together in managing heart health.
A recent case report briefly described the adverse side effects of beta blockers and the impact on mitochondria and coenzyme Q10.
“Known adverse outcomes of beta blockers include fatigue, dizziness, dyspnea, and bradycardia. Beta-blockers have a strong potential to damage mitochondrial biogenesis. The damage is assumed to be due to direct effect on the respiratory electron transport chain with decreased levels of arginine impairing aerobic exercise capacity. These medications can also inhibit the biological pathway of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). CoQ10 is a mitochondrial coenzyme essential for the production of ATP, the basis of cellular energy processes. CoQ10 also scavenges free radicals and blockage of its action interferes with protection against free radicals, contributing to further mitochondrial dysfunction.”
Anti-Depressants
Amitriptyline/Elavil, a commonly used tricyclic antidepressant, induces coenzyme Q10 deficiency and increase oxidative stress. This med is used for depression but is also used for neuropathy, fibromyalgia, migraine, tension headaches, eating disorders and more.
Feeling Drained?
If you are middle age and older with the age-associated 50% reduction of coenzyme Q10 production and take one or more drugs that deplete or interfere with coenzyme Q10, you need to replenish coenzyme Q10.
If you start on one or more of these meds early in life and/or have poor compensation for oxidative stress and wear-and-tear from a Western Diet and stress, you can still experience the effects of coenzyme Q10 depletion and mitochondrial stress even though you’re chronologically younger than 65. In both circumstances, you age faster, can’t keep up, and now have greater risk of health issues and numerous drug side effects.
Coenzyme Q10 Ubiquinol Study Results
Optimizing CoQ10 status plays a pivotal role in healthy physiology as demonstrated in a recent randomized controlled trial published in the British Journal of Nutrition. Participants were given a placebo or received 100 mg/day of the coQ10 ubiquinol for 12 weeks. Several markers were measured including blood levels of coenzyme Q10, lipids, oxidative stress, and A1C.
The group that received the coenzyme Q10 ubiquinol were found to have increased antioxidant levels and improvement in cellular physiology.
Coenzyme Q10 Options
The dosage of coenzyme Q10 ranges from 100-300 mg/day for general support and moderate needs. Some individuals find that higher doses from 400-1200 mg/day are necessary. Take it with food to optimize results.
We offer crystal-free, fat-soluble ubiquinone and ubiquinol forms. Super CoQ10 Ubiquinol is a better option for those over 40 who may have a lower conversion rate of ubiquinone to ubiquinol. We also have Super Coenzyme Q10 90 c and the basic water-soluble form, Coenzyme Q10.
Age is often the source of blame for change in health and diminished function. Chronological age of course plays a role, but how well you age with your health span is just as important. Is your energy keeping up with the youth in your life?
