As a nutrient essential to ATP production, coenzyme Q10, or CoQ10, is a VIP (very important particle) within your body. With the potential to help heal almost all cardiovascular conditions, it is one of the best nutrients you can feed your heart. CoQ10 is a fat-soluble, vitamin-like compound found within all your body’s cells. While you may ingest it through foods like ocean fish, shellfish, meats, broccoli, spinach, and nuts, your body synthesizes the majority of CoQ10 it uses from amino acids, vitamins and minerals.

At around the age of forty, endogenous production of CoQ10 begins to decline and can impede your ability to generate ATP. Heart muscle requires an incredible amount of CoQ10 to circulate oxygenated and nutrient-rich blood through your body. In fact, tissue levels of CoQ10 are usually ten times higher in the healthy heart than any other organ of the body, even the brain! CoQ10 deficiency is a major contributing factor in congestive heart failure (CHF) and hypertension. CoQ10 levels may also drop if you’re not getting enough of the various nutrients required to synthesize it, or if you’re taking statin drugs or beta blockers. Since cells will absorb and utilize CoQ10 made available in the blood, consuming foods and supplements with CoQ10 can make up for deficiencies caused by age, malnutrition, or drug interference.

CoQ10 plays a dual role in your body, acting as both a coenzyme and an antioxidant. As a coenzyme, CoQ10 directly supports myocyte (heart cell) mitochondria with ATP regeneration: it assists enzymes with electron transfer. Subsequently, in its reduced form, ubiquinol, CoQ10 serves as an antioxidant, protecting myocyte membranes and mitochondria from oxidative damage. Ubiquinol even travels through your bloodstream to quench free radicals and prevent oxidation of LDL in blood vessels. Such antioxidant activity is especially important for the prevention of hypertension, strokes, heart attacks, and CHF.

CoQ10 also offers cardiovascular protection by decreasing your risk of blood clots; it reduces the size and stickiness of blood platelets, which limits their distribution, activity and aggregation. While most clinical investigations have focused on the relationship between CoQ10 levels and both CHF and cardiomyopathy (a condition where heart muscle has been severely damaged and weakened), research has also consistently demonstrated CoQ10’s clinical effectiveness for CAD, arrhythmia, and hypertension. CoQ10 supplementation can help cancer patients who receive Adriamycin, a form of chemotherapy, protect their hearts against the agent's toxic effects. Supplementation with CoQ10 can also offset nutritional deficiencies caused by pharmaceutical drugs like beta blockers, statins, and antidepressants. Note: careful monitoring for drug interactions is suggested when blood thinners like Coumadin are in the picture. 

Commercial CoQ10 supplements may vary in potency. You should look for a supplement that is bioavailable enough to therapeutically raise CoQ10 levels in your blood. Bioavailability describes how quickly, and in what concentration, your blood absorbs substances. Water- and fat-soluble forms of CoQ10 tend to be more bioavailable than dry powder blends. Blood levels of CoQ10 provide the most accurate assessment of how much CoQ10 is being absorbed and delivered to your tissues. Researchers agree that a 2.5 µg/ml blood level of CoQ10 is optimal, while 3.5 µg/ml is the preferred amount to help heal severely diseased hearts.

I believe Co10 is a key ingredient for healing all cardiovascular conditions as well as helping prevent energy loss associated with aging, and recommend:

• 90 - 250 mg daily for the prevention of cardiovascular and periodontal diseases;
• 180 - 360 mg daily if you have hypertension;
• 300 - 600 mg daily for those with CHF (Start with 180 mg and work up to 300+ mg over three weeks);and
• 600 - 1,200+ mg daily for people with Parkinson’s disease and other debilitating illness such as cancer.

Dec. 2011 Article Update: An HMDI reader recently alerted us of a discrepancy in some information given at HMDI and Drsinatra.com regarding recommended dosages of coenzyme Q10 for congestive heart failure (CHF). As the conscientious reader pointed out, Dr. Sinatra recommends, in the article above, 300 to 600 mg coenzyme Q10 per day for patients with CHF, while at Drsinatra.com, his recommendation is to start at 180 mg per day and work up to 360 mg over 3 weeks. The reader asked us to clarify the difference in these dosages, as it appeared confusing and somewhat contradictory.

We thank this reader for catching this difference and for giving us an opportunity to explain that there are no “cut-and-dry” guidelines about coenzyme Q10 dosages. In essence, both recommendations are applicable to various patients with CHF depending on how sick individual patients are. The sicker a person is, the more energy s/he requires to repair and restore bodily structure and function (hence, whereas the recommendation in “Natural Treatments for Congestive Heart Failure” at Drsinatra.com is generalized to apply to the average CHF patient, the recommendations in the article above are more representative of coenzyme Q10’s application on the overall illness spectrum).

We apologize for any confusion caused by the differences in information provided, and want to make clear that it’s not the exact dosage of coenzyme Q10 that matters as much as the clinical response. There are other factors that come into play such as bioavailability of particular coenzyme Q10 supplements and other nutrients patients may be ingesting. What is most important is how an individual feels after taking coenzyme Q10. Since everyone is different, the dosages needed to help people build enough energy to fight back against their particular symptoms of degenerative disease may also differ. Starting at lower doses and gradually working up to higher ones is suggested for some people to help them acclimate to the change in their body chemistries.

Bottom line is that the “right” amount of coenzyme Q10 to take is the amount that helps makes YOU - the individual - feel better (remember to keep your doctor informed of the dosages of supplements you are taking).