Showing posts with label Antioxidant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Antioxidant. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Jack of all Nutrients: CoQ10
"Jack of all Nutrients": Co-enzyme Q10
CoQ10 has proved helpful in increasing energy, preventing and treating circulatory and heart problems, enhancing weight loss, boosting the immune system, and much more.
At an anti-aging conference, I heard an enthusiastic medical doctor telling a skeptical listener that coenzyme Q10 is helpful in rewing up energy, protecting the soundness of gums and teeth, preventing heart disease, coping with obesity and cancer, bolstering the immune system, and delaying the aging process.
"Is there anything coenzyme Q10 can't do?" asked the skeptic.
"About the only thing it can't do is set a VCR," laughed the speaker.
Exploring the versatility of CoQ10
The versatility CoQ10 is anything but a laughing matter. It is known by most accounts as one of the most incredible supplements on the shelves of health food stores.
Although coenzyme Q10 exists in many foods, thus earning its other name, ubiquinone, much research shows that patients with a vast spectrum of serious medical conditions are frequently CoQ10-deficient.
The harsh fact is this: too many people mainly eat "dead" (processed) foods. Coenzyme Q10 can be synthesized in the body from whole foods rich in tyrosine and phenylalanine (amino acids), vitamin E, folic acid, and vitamins B-1 and B-6, along with its brother and sister coenzymes Q1 through Q9, but not from any single nutrient.
Well, wouldn't people who eat live, fresh, whole foods be able to synthesize enough CoQ10? Some segments of the population would.
However, around middle-age, we begin to lose our ability to synthesize this nutrient from the diet. At this time, and possibly before, is when supplements come in to help.
Vegetarians, and some others, will not find acceptable most of the foods containing coenzyme Q10: beef, muscle and organ meats, including liver, egg yolk, milk fat, codfish, and sardines. However, various whole grains and wheat germ, as well as peanuts and spinach, contain some levels of this nutrient.
When most measures fail to help fatigued or exhausted people, I have determined that many find relief in taking CoQ10. As one of the biochemical fuels most needed to produce desired energy, CoQ10 seems to fire up the mitochondria, the micro-furnaces in our trillions of cells.
Growing in popularity in the United States, CoQ10 is most widely known and used outside of our borders--in Europe and, mainly, in Japan, where nearly 300 different CoQ10 products are sold. Supply can hardly keep up with demand.
CoQ10 prevents G, Nutrientum disease
The Japanese commonly take CoQ10 supplements to manage or prevent swollen gums and deterioration of bone structures supporting teeth, among other uses. Edward G. Wilkinson, D.D.S., a periodontal specialist with the United States Air Force, investigated indepth causes of serious gum diseases, and invariably found a serious deficiency in coenzyme Q10. By supplementing patients' diets with this nutrient, he was able to reverse gum disease which threatened each of them with a loss of all their teeth -- conditions considered hopeless by other dental specialists.
A frightening statistic tells us that 30 million Americans have such an advanced state of gum disease that they will lose all their teeth unless they get immediate periodontal treatment. Another reveals that 60 percent of young people suffer periodontal problems, as well as 90 percent of seniors over 65.
Heart health relies on CoQ10
Probably the most exciting use of CoQ10 is for the prevention and treatment of many types of heart and artery disorders--high blood pressure, deficient heart energy, and low-oxygen conditions threatening the integrity of heart tissue. When blood delivery is reduced because of clogged arteries or during a heart attack, CoQ10 helps. In addition, it can contribute to reducing the pain of angina and in regularizing irregular heartbeat.
Patients with congestive heart failure appear to derive great benefit from CoQ10 supplementation. Twelve such patients who failed to improve on digitalis and diuretics, traditional drugs for such a condition, showed notable improvement on 100 mg daily of CoQ10 for one month.
Until recently, the only hope for most cardiomyopathy patients was heart transplant, a hazardous and costly procedure. (This condition is characterized by exaggerated thickening of the heart muscle and obstructive damage to the heart.) Then cardiologist Per H. Langsjoen, M.D., of the Scott and White Clinic in Temple, Texas, had advanced cardiomyopathy patients try 100 mg of CoQ10 daily for 12 weeks, he noted "a remarkable clinical improvement."
In his double-blind, cross-over study of 19 patients, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Langsjoen reported increased volume of blood pumped, improved heart strength, and diminished shortness of breath --all with no side effects. These benefits continued for three years.
CoQ10 normalizes blood pressure
In animal studies, CoQ10 has also been found to normalize high blood pressure; these results were verified in human studies. A Japanese researcher Toru Yamagami fed 25 patients suffering with hypertension 60 mg of CoQ10 daily for eight weeks. All participants showed a significant decrease in blood pressure. The average drop in pressure was greater than 10 percent.
A similar study by Yamagami and Karl Folkers, of the University of Texas--the latter a pioneer researcher in CoQ10--showed that hypertensive patients recorded a noteworthy drop in blood pressure after a daily intake of 35 to 45 mg of this supplement for several weeks. Many of them registered declines in pressure to normal levels.
CoQ10 protects the muscles of the heart
Animal studies show positive results after supplementation with CoQ10. In cases of myocardial infarction--death of heart tissues due to obstructed blood circulation --damaged areas were reduced in size. The myocardium--the middle muscular layer of the heart--was protected against insufficient blood flow.
"A deficiency of CoQ10 is common in cardiac patients," states The Nutrition Superbook: The Antioxidants. "When it was looked for, myocardial biopsies done on patients with various cardiac diseases showed that there was a deficiency of the coenzyme in 50 to 75 percent of the patients studied."
Weight loss enhanced with CoQ10
In addition to its hopeful, beneficial effects on cardiovascular ailments, CoQ10 has been shown to contribute to weight loss through firing up the cell mitochondria (micro-furnaces) and, therefore, increasing the burning off of accumulated fat.
Dr. Luc Van Gaal and colleagues noted in a paper, "The Exploratory Study of Coenzyme Q10 in Obesity," their results of a study of two groups of obese volunteers on the same controlled reducing diet. The only difference was that one group received 100 mg of CoQ10 daily over nine weeks, while the other group did not. Those on CoQ10 lost 30 pounds compared with l pounds for the other group.
Other benefits of this nutrient
One of the questions often asked about CoQ10 is: "It seems to help many medical conditions, but is useful for treating cancers?" Animal studies indicate that it increases resistance to virally and chemically-caused cancers by stimulating the metabolic activity in the immune system.
Dr. Emile Bliznakov, scientific director of the Lupus Research Institute in Ridgefield, Conn., discovered that CoQ10 doubles the immune system's antibody level against bacterial organisms and also offers a higher level of resistance to viruses.
Likewise, in animal experiments Bliznikov found that CoQ10 significantly increased their life span--by some 56 percent in some in stances--and, equally meaningful the animals looked and acted younger and more energetic.
Further, studies of CoQ10-deficient animals exhibited a marked deterioration of their immune system, contributing to a shorter life. One of Bliznikov's animal studies revealed that the amount of CoQ10 declines by as much as 80 percent over the course of normal aging.
The Nutrition Superbook: The Antioxidants comments on this finding
"A decline of this magnitude in a human being would be fatal, but deficiencies approaching this have been observed in aged humans and are associated with grave heart disease."
REFERENCES:
Barilla, Jean, ed. The Nutrition Superbook: The Antioxidants. New Canaan, Conn.: Keats Publishing, Inc., 1995.
COPYRIGHT 1996 PRIMEDIA Intertec, a PRIMEDIA Company. All Rights Reserved.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FKA/is_n8_v58/ai_18549482/pg_2/?tag=content;col1
Friday, June 18, 2010
More Facts about CoQ10
Hundreds of scientific studies have been published on CoQ10, including many involving humans. CoQ10 has also been the subject of ten international scientific and medical meetings. Furthermore, the role of CoQ10 in energy production was basis of the 1978 Nobel prize in chemistry, given to Peter Mitchell, Ph.D.
Unfortunately, most doctors in the U.S. are not familiar with the published research regarding the potential of CoQ10 because many of the journals they read rarely discuss the benefits of this and many other nutrients. The reason for this is very simple, nutrients cannot be patented so they are of very little interest to pharmaceutical companies and drug manufacturing laboratories, and these are the companies that sponsor and publish most of the journals read by doctors. However, traveling around Europe, China, Japan and South America, has shown me that the story is completely different in the rest of the world, where most health-care professionals are treating their patients with heart failure and other conditions by prescribing CoQ10. In fact, CoQ10 is the fifth most commonly prescribed “drug” in Japan.
Unfortunately, most doctors in the U.S. are not familiar with the published research regarding the potential of CoQ10 because many of the journals they read rarely discuss the benefits of this and many other nutrients. The reason for this is very simple, nutrients cannot be patented so they are of very little interest to pharmaceutical companies and drug manufacturing laboratories, and these are the companies that sponsor and publish most of the journals read by doctors. However, traveling around Europe, China, Japan and South America, has shown me that the story is completely different in the rest of the world, where most health-care professionals are treating their patients with heart failure and other conditions by prescribing CoQ10. In fact, CoQ10 is the fifth most commonly prescribed “drug” in Japan.
4 Ways In Which You Can Use Coenzyme Q10
by Charles Silverman
Sometimes I ask myself why this wonderful antioxidant supplement was given such a technical name, many people feel intimidated by the name alone, thus refusing to take CoQ10. But the truth is that this nutrient is one of the most effective antioxidants and it has been proven to help many serious diseases. We will study in depth the benefits and properties that researchers have found in this “vitamin like” substance called Coenzyme Q10. Probably you haven’t even heard the name Coenzyme Q10, or if you have, you don’t even know what it does or why you should take it. The potential and most of the properties found in CoQ10 have been recognized rather recently. CoQ10 is known to scientists as ubiquinol, this is a naturally occurring nutrient normally present in every cell in the body, so it is only logical to believe that it plays an important part in treating many conditions and preventing them. The body makes CoQ10, but most likely the majority of people don’t make it well or enough of it, the good news is that we can absorb CoQ10 from foods, especially fish, and meats (particularly organ meats like liver, kidney, etc.),the bad news is that most people don’t eat these types of meats, plus as we age the body loses it efficiency in manufacturing important nutrients. It has been proven that people suffering from heart diseases and cancer have lower levels of CoQ10, thus supplementation is recommended.
by Charles Silverman
Sometimes I ask myself why this wonderful antioxidant supplement was given such a technical name, many people feel intimidated by the name alone, thus refusing to take CoQ10. But the truth is that this nutrient is one of the most effective antioxidants and it has been proven to help many serious diseases. We will study in depth the benefits and properties that researchers have found in this “vitamin like” substance called Coenzyme Q10. Probably you haven’t even heard the name Coenzyme Q10, or if you have, you don’t even know what it does or why you should take it. The potential and most of the properties found in CoQ10 have been recognized rather recently. CoQ10 is known to scientists as ubiquinol, this is a naturally occurring nutrient normally present in every cell in the body, so it is only logical to believe that it plays an important part in treating many conditions and preventing them. The body makes CoQ10, but most likely the majority of people don’t make it well or enough of it, the good news is that we can absorb CoQ10 from foods, especially fish, and meats (particularly organ meats like liver, kidney, etc.),the bad news is that most people don’t eat these types of meats, plus as we age the body loses it efficiency in manufacturing important nutrients. It has been proven that people suffering from heart diseases and cancer have lower levels of CoQ10, thus supplementation is recommended.
1. CoQ10 helps in the energy production within each cell
The body, just like a car, needs fuel. Our primary source of fuel is through fats, proteins, and carbohydrates in our diet. After digestion in the stomach, the nutrients from foodstuffs are absorbed into the bloodstream and circulate to various tissues and cells. The cells have to break down the sugars, fats and amino acids in a form that makes energy. This energy production occurs in organelles, or microscopic organ-like structures, called mitochondria, and CoQ10 plays a key role in this activity.
There are hundreds, sometimes thousands, of mitochondria within each cell. In a sense, they are the factories of your cells, with the final product being energy. The energy that is produced is stored in a chemical called adenosine triphosphate, or simply ATP. It is carried by electrons and protons, which are sub-atomic particles. These energetic electrons and protons are moved around in cells to their destinations by numerous compounds. CoQ10 is one of the most important compounds.
The body, just like a car, needs fuel. Our primary source of fuel is through fats, proteins, and carbohydrates in our diet. After digestion in the stomach, the nutrients from foodstuffs are absorbed into the bloodstream and circulate to various tissues and cells. The cells have to break down the sugars, fats and amino acids in a form that makes energy. This energy production occurs in organelles, or microscopic organ-like structures, called mitochondria, and CoQ10 plays a key role in this activity.
There are hundreds, sometimes thousands, of mitochondria within each cell. In a sense, they are the factories of your cells, with the final product being energy. The energy that is produced is stored in a chemical called adenosine triphosphate, or simply ATP. It is carried by electrons and protons, which are sub-atomic particles. These energetic electrons and protons are moved around in cells to their destinations by numerous compounds. CoQ10 is one of the most important compounds.
2. CoQ10 as an antioxidant
CoQ10 also serves as an antioxidant, which is its second role. By controlling the movement of electrons, CoQ10 limits the production of dangerous free radicals, which are molecules lacking one electron in what should be a pair. To learn more about free radicals and antioxidants click here.
So far many researches and clinical studies have shown CoQ10 to be an amazing tool that helps us fight and prevent many dangerous conditions. Among these are:
CoQ10 also serves as an antioxidant, which is its second role. By controlling the movement of electrons, CoQ10 limits the production of dangerous free radicals, which are molecules lacking one electron in what should be a pair. To learn more about free radicals and antioxidants click here.
So far many researches and clinical studies have shown CoQ10 to be an amazing tool that helps us fight and prevent many dangerous conditions. Among these are:
Congestive heart failure
Coronary artery disease
High cholesterol
High blood pressure
Mitral valve prolapse
Breast Cancer
Periodontitis or Gingivitis
and Fatigue
Coronary artery disease
High cholesterol
High blood pressure
Mitral valve prolapse
Breast Cancer
Periodontitis or Gingivitis
and Fatigue
3. CoQ10 prevents many conditions
Another important aspect in the uses of CoQ10, is the prevention of many conditions, CoQ10 helps maintain normal heart function and preventing serious heart disease. Our heart works 24 hrs a day, using lots of energy, to pump blood though the body, and since CoQ10 plays an important role in energy production, it has shown to be a very valuable heart energizing nutrient.
But why doctors don’t recommend more the use of CoQ10?
Hundreds of scientific studies have been published on CoQ10, including many involving humans. CoQ10 has also been the subject of ten international scientific and medical meetings. Furthermore, the role of CoQ10 in energy production was basis of the 1978 Nobel prize in chemistry, given to Peter Mitchell, Ph.D.
Another important aspect in the uses of CoQ10, is the prevention of many conditions, CoQ10 helps maintain normal heart function and preventing serious heart disease. Our heart works 24 hrs a day, using lots of energy, to pump blood though the body, and since CoQ10 plays an important role in energy production, it has shown to be a very valuable heart energizing nutrient.
But why doctors don’t recommend more the use of CoQ10?
Hundreds of scientific studies have been published on CoQ10, including many involving humans. CoQ10 has also been the subject of ten international scientific and medical meetings. Furthermore, the role of CoQ10 in energy production was basis of the 1978 Nobel prize in chemistry, given to Peter Mitchell, Ph.D.
Unfortunately, most doctors in the US are not familiar with the published research regarding the potential of CoQ10 because many of the journals they read rarely discuss the benefits of this and many other nutrients. The reason for this is very simple, nutrients cannot be patented so they are of very little interest to pharmaceutical companies and drug manufacturing laboratories and these are the companies that sponsor and publish most of the journals read by doctors. However, traveling around Europe, China, Japan and South America, has shown me that the story is completely different in the rest of the world, where most health-care professionals are treating their patients with heart failure and other conditions by prescribing CoQ10. In fact, CoQ10 is the fifth most commonly prescribed “drug” in Japan.
4. How to get it from food How much CoQ10 do we get from foods and is it enough?
Dietary intake of CoQ10 normally ranges from 2 to 20 mg a day. Most of this comes from meats and fish. The richest source of CoQ10 is organ meat, like liver, kidney, and heart. If you don’t eat these types of meats, chances are that your body does not have adequate level of CoQ10. Supplements in these cases is recommended. Younger people tend to get enough CoQ10 from food and from their own body production, but as we age the ability of the body to make and absorb CoQ10 drops significantly, for people in the middle age group I recommend a dosage of 30mg a day, although people taking 60 to 100 mg a day have reported a significant improvement in alertness, energy level, motivation, mood elevation, and enhanced focus. Fortunately, CoQ10 has no serious side effects, 1.5 percent of people taking 60 to 100 mg a day have reported nausea, and insomnia, due to the energizing effects of CoQ10. Also, this wonderful nutrient can be taken for years non-stop with only positive results. I recommend to start slow, with a dosage of 10 mg a day and gradually increase it to the desired dosage or until satisfactory results have been achieved.
from: Why Doctors Don't Recommend COQ10 More
by Chris Gupta
www.newmediaexplorer.org, May 26, 2005
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