Tel: 1-909-396-6530 USA
Fax: 1-909-474-8856 USA
Online Skype / Yahoo IM
user name:
Nutrimartus
What is Coenzyme Q10 information
Coenzyme Q-10 (CoQ) is an important vitamin-like
nutrient that is becoming of great interest to researchers studying heart
disease, aging, cancer, obesity, athletic performance and other problems
associated with its deficiency.
CoQ resembles vitamin E and vitamin K in chemical structure. Not too
surprisingly, CoQ biochemically functions much like vitamin E in that it
participates in antioxidant and free radical reactions, However, CoQ has a
special biochemical role of major importance. CoQ is involved in the
production of energy in cells. Of special importance is CoQ's role in
producing energy in heart calls.
Coenzymes should not be confused with enzymes. Coenzymes are relatively
small molecules compared to enzymes, and thus, are not inactivated by
stomach acids and are readily absorbed intact and totally functional.
Vitamins often form the major part of coenzymes in the body. CoQ is
assimilated as readily as vitamin E and K, as one would expect by their
chemical structures.
Many enzymes work only in the presence of a smaller organic molecule
called a coenzyme. Enzymes are catalysts that speed reactions that might
take place very slowly or not take place at all, if it were not for the
presence of the coenzymes. The enzyme and coenzyme are bound together to
form a "haloenzyme," the catalytic entity.
All live foods contain one form or another of Coenzyme Q-l to Coenzyme
Q-10. This compound is so ubiquitous that it was first named ubiquinone (Idebenone
as synthetic Coq-10). Humans require CoQ. We can make CoQ out of
the other Coenzymes Q-1 to Q-9, or we can absorb it from our food.
However, we cannnot manufacture CoQ from simple nutrients or CoQ's
building blocks. As we age, many of us lose our ability to efficiently
make CoQ out of the other Coenzymes (Q-1 to Q-9). To make matters worse,
foods lose CoQ with processing and storage. Many persons depend on their
food for all of their CoQ.
CoQ is required for the production of cell energy in the mitochondria and
it serves as an antioxidant. CoQ supplements are used by millions of
persons around the world, but particularly in Japan, for heart disease,
high blood pressure, immune system stimulation, life-extension and slowing
the aging process, periodontal disease, peptic ulcers, and others. In
Japan alone, there are 252 CoQ preparations from 83 companies.
Dr. Karl Folkers of the University of Texas at Austin is the
"father" of CoQ in the United States. Dr Folkers also led the
research team that discovered vitamin B-12 in 1948, He was the first to
synthesize vitamin B-6. One of the earliest reports to the public about
Dr. Folkers and CoQ was in Supernutrition(Passwater, R.) in 1975. Japanese
and European physicians are quite aware of the role of this nutrient as an
adjunct in treating heart disease. In 1973, Dr. Folkers was awarded the
Welch Award by the American Chemical Society, and in 1986, he was given
its highest award, the Priestley Medal. He has published a four volume set
of books on CoQ.
Topics of future research include lupus, AIDS, diabetes, periodontal
disease, candida, Parkinson's, ALS and muscular dystrophy.