Coenzyme Q10

Coenzyme Q10

It’s been awhile since I got a post up here on the blog.  December was a whirlwind with a trip to ASHP Midyear and Disneyland, closing on our house and moving 2 days before vacation with my family. We threw our boxes in, then headed to warm weather for a week in Key Largo.  You can find pictures about our adventures on Instagram. We celebrated Christmas with my family on Christmas Day at my sister’s new home in Lexington, KY,  and later in the week with Dustin’s family in Northeast Ohio.  We celebrated New Years Eve with our local friends and church family in our new home, and visited our college friends on New Years Day in Findlay, Ohio.  We have had our New Years Day gathering tradition for over a decade now!  So far January has been stay home and work on getting our house together and of course fight off viral gunk 🙂 Back in November,  Marina Reid, who is a DO student, rotated with me and we worked on this post together. She will be Dr. Reid in the spring and someday an anesthesiologist!  I love getting to spend a few weeks with medical students sharing my passions for diabetes care and functional medicine. CoQ10 is an amazing compound with lots of potential.  Make sure to read this post to the end!

[drh]

 

One of the most widely sold supplements on the market is the compound with the mysterious – sounding name, CoQ10¹. As it turns out, this is an abbreviation for an enzyme that is found in every cell in the human body². Logically, an enzyme so widely prevalent was given a name ‘ubiquinone’. CoQ10 describes the chemical structure of ubiquinone molecule, that is actually similar to vitamin K in structure³. ‘Co’ is short for ‘coenzyme’, ‘Q’ is for ‘quinone’ chemical group, and ‘10’ refers to the number of isoprenyl chemical subunits in the molecule⁴. CoQ10 is an essential molecule that participates in the rate limiting transfer from step II to step III of the electron transport chain in mitochondrial membrane to produce ATP molecules. In basic terms this means that CoQ10 is a vital part of energy production in our cells.

You may remember from high school biology class that the mitochondria are considered the powerhouse of the cell.  Organs such as the heart, liver, and kidneys are packed with mitochondria. Unfortunately, with age⁵ or certain disease states,⁶ our bodies get depleted of this essential enzyme and those vital organs suffer the most.

The role of CoQ10 in treatment of ischemia (inadequate blood supply to the heart) and congestive heart failure has been widely supported by the research. Q-SYMBIO was a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled multicenter study that showed that patients treated with CoQ10 supplementation had significant reduction in cardiovascular death, all-cause mortality and heart failure hospitalizations⁷. There are reports that also show the improvement of cardiac function in transplant patients with CoQ10 supplementation⁸. CoQ10 supplementation can be especially beneficial for pediatric⁹ and postpartum patients¹⁰ with dilated cardiomyopathies (enlarged hearts). The exact mechanism of this cardio-protective function is still to be determined. Suggested mechanisms include stabilization of mitochondrial membranes and prevention of cell death,¹¹ and prevention of damage to the lining of the blood vessels¹² which may be contributing to restoring delicate balance in heart failure patients.

Another widely accepted use for CoQ10 supplementation is the prevention of muscle pain associated with a common prescription medication class called “statins” that are used for cholesterol reduction and secondary prevention of heart attacks. Both CoQ10 and cholesterol production share a common pathway, this pathway gets inhibited by statin drugs⁴, so not only do statin drugs slow cholesterol production, they also deplete CoQ10.

Since CoQ10 is an essential molecule for energy production, it’s depletion may contribute to one of the most common side effects of statin medications, muscle pain, also known as myopathy. Hence, taking CoQ10 supplements while taking statins may prevent the negative side effects.¹⁴ In addition, CoQ10 has been shown to lower blood pressure in several controlled studies. One study reduced Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP, the top number) by 17 mmHG!^15. 

As a potent anti-oxidant, CoQ10 has been also shown to decrease the frequency and severity of migraines^16,17.  This is a really exciting area of exploration, considering how debilitating migraines can be.  There are also several other uses that are being currently investigated: fibromyalgia pain¹⁸, depression in patients with bipolar¹⁹, skin texture improvement²⁰, and Parkinson’s disease²¹.

Since CoQ10 is an endogenous molecule produced by our bodies, getting too much is highly unlikely even in high doses.²¹ Mild side effects reported include nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea¹². It has to be administered with caution in patients on warfarin or chemotherapy due to the risk of drug interactions¹². Always disclose supplements to your healthcare providers so they can work with you to make the best decisions for your health! 

Based on this review of the literature, the current recommended doses are listed below.

• 100-300 mg daily for Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)¹²
  
• 100 mg per day for high blood pressure¹⁵ statin induced myopathy¹⁴ and migraine prevention^16,17

Lastly, as always, if you are going to add any supplement to your regimen for you or a patient, make sure it’s from a high-quality source.  Here are a couple of my favorite CoQ10 products. FullScript is an amazing resource with all kinds of reputable supplement manufacturers.

 

References

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4. Mikael Turunen, Jerker Olsson, Gustav Dallner, Metabolism and function of coenzyme Q, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Biomembranes, Volume 1660, Issues 1–2, 2004,Pages 171-199, ISSN 0005-2736, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamem.2003.11.012. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0005273603003717)
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19. Mehrpooya M, Yasrebifar F, Haghighi M, Mohammadi Y, Jahangard L, Elevating the Effect of Coenzyme Q10 Augmentation on Treatment of Bipolar Depression: A double-blind controlled clinical trial. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology 2018 Oct;38(5):460-466
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