John Arts Abundant Living www.johnarts.co.nz

Last week we started to look at Co Enzyme Q10 and today look further at its role in the body and benefits from taking it as a supplement. Known in short as CoQ10, it's made in its ubiquinone form in the liver in the same chemistry pathway as cholesterol. And it's used to make our bodies' energy and additionally acts as an antioxidant.

The parts of our body that need the most energy have the greatest demand for CoQ10. Our brain, nerves, skeletal muscles and heart muscle have huge CoQ10 requirements. But CoQ10 production generally starts to reduce past age 50. I often recommend CoQ10 for people who experience low energy and the results are often remarkable.

Anything that reduces our natural CoQ10 levels can have a detrimental effect on these tissues. It is unsurprising then that drugs and diseases which reduce CoQ10 affect muscles and nerves. Commonly prescribed statin cholesterol-reducing drugs can reduce our CoQ10 production by as much as 50 per cent.

Numerous studies show statin drugs significantly reduce CoQ10. The reason is simple. The drug blocks the enzyme needed to make cholesterol. This is also needed to make CoQ10.

While there is no doubt statins lower cholesterol there are concerns about the effect of CoQ10 lowering on other tissues. In Canada, some statins now carry warnings that statin use can damage heart muscle. This is unsurprising given the heart muscle has a very high demand for CoQ10.

Most statin side effects seem to be linked to less circulating CoQ10. Taking a rapidly-absorbed high grade CoQ10 usually resolves the issue. For most people 100mg of well absorbed CoQ10 will lift circulating CoQ10 to a level where side effects are reduced. Be aware that the market is now flooded with lower-cost CoQ10 products. Reputable manufacturers generally use Kaneka Q10, which is the gold standard for CoQ10. Give me a call or email john@abundant.co.nz if you need more information. Join my full weekly newsletter at www.abundant.co.nz

John Arts is a qualified nutritional medicine practitioner and founder of Abundant Health. Contact John on 0800 423 559. To read more go to www.sunlive.co.nz