Why I Won't Take Most CoQ10 Supplements - And You Shouldn't Either

You probably already know quite a bit about coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). I've written about it many times. It's a super nutrient, far and away above most others. Its discovery led to a Nobel Prize. Your cells must have it in order to produce energy. CoQ10 is the richest antioxidant in your cell membranes. It's a powerful remedy for heart failure and Parkinson's disease. In Parkinson's disease, it can slow progression by 44%.

CoQ10 also protects your cells from aging. It's the only fat-soluble antioxidant your body makes. But, as you age, your own production sharply declines.

When you were young, your body made enough to handle all of your CoQ10 needs. Your production peaked at age 20. But, with aging, you make less and less. The decline accelerates and is noticeable by age 40. This is especially true in your skin. Restoring levels might protect you from skin aging and cancer.

But it's difficult to restore your levels. The nutrient isn't plentiful in foods. You'd have to eat 15 pounds of peanut butter - one of the richest sources - to get 100 mg.

As a result, the CoQ10 market has boomed. It generates a staggering $400 million a year. In Japan, it's an approved "drug" for congestive heart failure. But many conventional cardiologists in this country have never heard of it.

Yes, supplements can boost your levels. But most CoQ10 supplements have some limitations. First of all, they aren't absorbed very well. Sometimes they don't even work.

You can buy CoQ10 at just about any health food store or grocery store. They're rather expensive. And most of these forms of CoQ10 are the oxidized form - ubiquinone. The problem with ubiquinone is that only about 4% of a standard oral dose of it is actually bioavailable. That's why your body doesn't absorb the nutrient very well.

Because it's so poorly absorbed, some people need enormous doses in order to achieve the increased blood levels necessary to make a difference in disease. I know people who have to take up to 3,000 mg a day to get the desired effects. Standard supplements range from 20-200 mg. So they have to take a lot of pills.

It's usually worth it, because it's such a potent heart and brain protector. In fact, 1,500 peer reviewed studies prove its power.

Another problem is that your body has to convert it to the reduced form - called ubiquinol - in order for it to work. Ubiquinol is the best form of CoQ10.

In your blood, 95% of CoQ10 is ubiquinol. It helps regenerate vitamin E. It protects you against cholesterol oxidation (the real cholesterol problem) better than other major antioxidants. Diabetics have an amazing 75% less ubiquinol, as compared to healthy people. And diseased organs suffer severely from depleted ubiquinol. In fact, chronic disease is a major cause of CoQ10 deficiency.

Unfortunately, ubiquinol in supplement form oxidizes easily (as do many nutrients on exposure to oxygen) to ubiquinone.

Oxidation is what happens when you expose sensitive tissue to oxygen. You've probably seen how the glossy white flesh of an apple can turn rusty after a short while. Well, ubiquinol does the same thing, only faster. Ubiquinol is white. That's because it is reduced, carrying two extra electrons. This makes a gigantic difference in absorption and, more importantly, its use in your cells. Conventional CoQ10, by comparison, is orange. That's because it's oxidized.

As a result of this oxidation, it was impossible to find ubiquinol commercially.

That is, until now!

Researchers recently made a huge breakthrough with CoQ10. They developed a new form of stable ubiquinol. It doesn't oxidize as easily. But their studies prove that it's far more bioavailable. Compared to conventional CoQ10, ubiquinol plasma levels jumped 50% in younger people. It rose even more in older folks.

In one study, researchers gave ubiquinol to children at 1-10 mg/kg weight. That's like 700 mg for an adult. Their serum levels were comparable to doses of conventional CoQ10 at 2,400-3,000 mg per day. Ubiquinol has increased blood levels to a higher level than in any previous work on conventional CoQ10.

Other studies show that just 150 mg of ubiquinol will provide you the same blood levels of active CoQ10 as 1,200 mg of "enhanced delivery" conventional CoQ10. (And 1,200 mg of conventional CoQ10 was the largest dose used in all the Parkinson's studies.)

One impressive study showed that taking 300 mg of ubiquinol for four weeks caused a "markedly high" serum level of 8.413umol/L. This was an 11-fold increase over baseline. That's just not something you see with ubiquinone. The authors stated that "solubilized ubiquinol is the best of all (forms of CoQ10)."

So what does this mean for you? First of all, it means you can slow down your aging process. That's because ubiquinol protects your mitochondria with a much lower dose than conventional CoQ10.

Researchers have conducted studies on mice they bred to age quickly. Ubiquinol was 40% more effective than conventional CoQ10 in slowing their aging markers by mid-life. At 10 months (late in life for fast-aging mice) ubiquinol slowed their aging 51% more than non supplemented controls, and 40% more than conventional CoQ10.

At 12 months, the control mice were largely immobile and poorly responsive due to advanced aging. The ubiquinol-supplemented group was alert, responsive, and energetic. They had no physical lesions or deformities. Their coat was glossy, like that of a young healthy mouse. Remember, the researchers bred these experimental mice specifically for advanced aging. Ubiquinol dramatically postponed their aging.

In other research, the same researchers studied the two forms of CoQ10 for their effect on exercise tolerance in mice. Regular CoQ10 did improve their tolerance by a modest 60%. But ubiquinol ratcheted them up 150%!

Recently, a cardiology group in the U.S. released the following case studies. They called the results "a major breakthrough." I think you'll agree.

A healthy 52-year-old woman was taking 300 mg of conventional CoQ10. She had a plasma level of 2.5mcg/ml, with 0.7% in the inactive oxidized form. After one month of ubiquinol at the same dose, her levels rose to 5.2mcg/ml with 0.5% oxidized. And that was in just one month. More encouraging, the ubiquinol-to-cholesterol ratio doubled. They found much more active CoQ10 present to protect her cholesterol from dangerous oxidation. That could bring arterial damage to a screeching halt! You'll see that in the next case.

A 65-year-old man had advanced ischemic cardiomyopathy. He was on maximum medical therapy. He was taking diuretics, beta blockers, Coumadin, and he had a biventricular pacemaker. He was in the end stage of heart failure and going straight downhill fast. He had fluid backed up in his lungs and legs. He was drowning in his own blood. He was in the hospital more than he was out.

In June 2006, he was taking conventional CoQ10 - 450 mg per day in soybean oil. His plasma CoQ10 level was sub therapeutic at 1.6mcg/ml. His heart ejection fraction was a lethal 15%. (That means his diseased left ventricle was pumping out only 15% of its blood volume compared to a healthy heart's 60%). His doctor switched him to ubiquinol at the same dose.

Within three months, his plasma CoQ10 level increased to 6.4mcg/ml. In the fourth month, his ejection fraction jumped to 35-40%. He had a mitral valve leak that significantly improved. He could discontinue diuretics and his functional status was much better.

Three months later, his ejection fraction increased yet more to 45%. That's triple what it was! He had become quite active by now and required no more hospital admissions. The cardiologist noted that this was the most striking case of improvement he had seen in his 25-year career. Here was a man already on CoQ10 and dying.

On the right CoQ10, his numbers improved to a level compatible with a very comfortable life and modest exertion level.

In my humble opinion, this is the biggest supplement news of the year, or perhaps many years. If you are taking regular CoQ10 and not getting the heart improvement you need, this supplement is for you. It's more expensive per tablet. But you don't need to take nearly as much. That makes it more cost effective overall.

By taking ubiquinol, you can reverse advanced heart disease. Most cardiologists don't believe you can rejuvenate dying heart cells. I've told you in the past that most of these "dead" cells are really just hibernating. And when you give them the ability to produce energy, they come back to life. Remember what I said earlier - without CoQ10 your cells can't produce energy. So hibernating cells are probably just deficient in CoQ10 (or ribose, see my website for more information). When you give them ubiquinol, you'll be amazed at the improved performance of one's heart.

I'm so impressed by the research behind ubiquinol that I now consider it one of the most important nutrients you can take. You can order it from Advanced Bionutritionals at 800-728-2288. They, too, were so impressed that it's now the only form of CoQ10 they sell. And it's the only form you should take.

What I also like about Advanced Bionutritionals' new formula is that it also contains two more of my favorite nutrients: alpha lipoic acid and L-carnitine. These further enhance mitochondrial energy production. The synergy between these nutrients should bring exceptional results.