Could your cellular engines do with a recharge?

Ravinder Lilly, USANA Australia and New Zealand Writer and Dietitian

Start those engines!

You don’t need a prescription for it – and you don’t even need to go to get pharmacy to get it. Yet the powerful vitamin-like substance that is Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) can make a real difference to your energy at the cell level. In fact, a recent symposium on heart health suggested that it is so effective and free of side effects that taking CoQ10 should be recommended as standard therapy to complement treatment with some medicines.

CoQ10 explained

So how does CoQ10 work? Well, it all happens inside the tiny organelles in your cells called mitochondria. It’s within these petite powerhouse walls that energy is produced. And, working in conjunction with B vitamins, CoQ10 helps to transform food energy into the type of fuel that your cells can use. Your cells take the energy they need from a substance called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Think of ATP as being a bit a rechargeable battery – it supplies energy where it’s needed and then returns to mitochondria to get refuelled. All of your trillions of body cells need oxygen and energy to flourish.

As you’d expect, it’s the cells that use lots of energy that contain most mitochondria. Hard-working heart and liver tissues have the masses of mitochondria and the highest concentration of CoQ10.

Some of our CoQ10 from foods such as fish, meat, green vegetables and peanuts. Plus, your body produces CoQ10 – in fact, it is the only antioxidant that your body can make for itself.

But the amount of CoQ10 your body makes declines with age. And, it is affected by exercise – whether it’s aerobic or anaerobic exercise. Plus certain conditions – and the medicines used to treat those conditions – affect your body’s CoQ10 stores.

Heart health and CoQ10

Heart smarts!

You already know that having high LDL-cholesterol is a risk factor for heart disease and other cardiovascular conditions. As well as controlling total fat intake (especially saturated fats and trans fats) and encouraging exercise, one medical option for certain individuals is cholesterol-lowering medicines. These work by blocking the production of cholesterol in the liver. But CoQ10 is also produced in the liver and certain cholesterol lowering medicines also block production of CoQ10.

Not getting enough CoQ10 means that the cells won’t have enough energy and won’t work as well. You can boost low levels of CoQ10 by taking a first class supplement such as USANA’s CoQuinone 100™. Another plus point is that taking this super supplement raises CoQ10 levels while not affecting the cholesterol-lowering effect of any cholesterol-lowering medicines. CoQ10 is a powerful antioxidant that neutralises potentially damaging free radicals and preserves the antioxidant vitamins C and E. So, it may be that low levels can lead to damage to the tiny powerhouses in your cells, the mitochondria, where energy release occurs.

CoQ10 is such a beneficial nutrient that on 25 May, 2013 scientists in Lisbon reported that CoQ10 could decrease all-cause mortality by half after a multicenter randomized double blind trial. Lead author of the research, Professor Svend Aage Mortensen from Denmark said that CoQ10 was the first ‘drug’ to improve heart failure mortality in over a decade; he recommended that it should be added to standard treatment for certain heart problems.

‘Supplementation with CoQ10, which is a natural and safe substance, corrects a deficiency in the body and blocks the vicious metabolic cycle in chronic heart failure called the energy-starved heart,’ said Professor Svend Aage Mortensen. CoQ10 may help to boost heart strength plus the heart’s ability to pump blood, too.

What about exercisers?

Trusted by athletes

Studies have shown that in athletes, CoQ10 can cut muscle fatigue and speed recovery times – it may even improve athletic performance. That’s probably why our wonderful Olympic Gold medallist kayaker, Tate Smith, swears by it!Taking CoQ10 may help to reduce the incidence and severity of migraines, lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels and even increase levels reduced by taking other prescribe medicines.

Antioxidant effects

All body cells including those in your brain and muscles need food and oxygen to live. CoQ10 helps to provide this and its antioxidant action helps to protect cells against oxidative damage – the kind that can result when free radicals build up. CoQ10 is an important free radical fighter and supplementing with CoQ10 could boost your health by boosting circulation and lowering LDL-cholesterol levels. Supplements that also contain alpha lipoic acids (ALA) may help your body control its use of insulin whilst boosting blood flow – so there’s double benefit to taking USANA’s Coenzyme Q10 formulation!

Your body’s natural CoQ10 production slows down with age as metabolism slows down. Smoking uses up stores, too

Are your levels running low?

Symptoms of low levels of CoQ10 are non-specific and include low energy levels, hypertension (high blood pressure), irregular heart rate, muscle aches and weakness and lowered immune function.

CoQ10 is known to interfere with your body’s response to blood thinners such as warfarin and can decrease your insulin requirement if you’re diabetic. So talk with your doctor if you are thinking of adding CoQ10 to your daily supplement routine.

But not all CoQ10 is made equal!

A real winner!

CoQ10 is manufactured by fermenting sugar beet and sugar cane with special strains of yeast. And, as with many supplements, the quality of the product can vary drastically between products. USANA’s research and development team has aimed to provide a standardised and proven absorption. Earlier this year, in March 2013, USANA Health Sciences Inc. was evaluated and approved by ConsumerLab.com LLC, a leading provider of independent product test results. Their results showed that for the fourth time in a row, USANA’s CoQuinone 30™ passed testing for label claims. Clinical tests performed in USANA’s laboratories show that USANA CoQuinone delivers CoQ10 in much higher quantities than solid formulations or from competitive liquid formulations, making USANA CoQuinone more bioavailable than other CoQ10 products.

Want to try CoQuinone?

Start your cellular engines!

Just take one CoQuinone 100 capsule daily or one or two CoQuinone capsules daily, preferably with meals for further boost absorption.

So, if yor cells do with a little more energy, choose USANA’s CoQuinone!

You can find the complete review at www.ConsumerLab.com.

Do not take while on warfarin therapy without medical advice.

Vitamin supplements should not replace a balanced diet.

USE ONLY AS DIRECTED. ALWAYS READ THE LABEL.

IF SYMPTOMS PERSIST SEE YOUR HEALTH CARE PRACTITIONER