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COENZYME Q10 (CoQ10) is a vitamin-like substance synthesised by the human body. It plays a vital role in sustaining daily life as it helps the body produce energy and supply it to all body cells.

Due to its energy-yielding capability, CoQ10 is abundant in organs such as the heart, liver and kidney, which have the highest energy requirements.

Ubiquinone vs ubiquinol

There are two types of CoQ10 supplement in the market, which are ubiquinone and ubiquinol. CoQ10 is easily converted from one form to another according to our body’s need. The biochemical function of these two types of CoQ10 are as follows:

Ubiquinone is involved in all body processes that require energy

Ubiquinol functions as an antioxidant that protects body cells against damaging effects from free radicals. The ability of CoQ10 to circulate back and forth between ubiquinone and ubiquinol contributes to numerous benefits, especially for cardiovascular health.

Clinical evidences of CoQ10

In a clinical trial published in the Journal of the American Collage of Cardiology : Heart Failure in 2014 involving 420 patients with heart failure, those who took CoQ10 supplements for two years had fewer hospital stays and lower rates of cardiovascular mortality than the placebo group.

People who receive daily CoQ10 supplements were less likely to experience subsequent heart attack and chest pain. This is mainly due to the sufficient amount of CoQ10 in the heart to pump blood effectively to all parts of the body.

Generally, a healthy body and dietary sources such as oily fish, organ meats and whole grains can produce an adequate amount of CoQ10.

A two-week treatment with statin can cause the depletion of CoQ10 level due to its enzymatic inhibition. The enzyme HMGCoA reductase is not just responsible for cholesterol production but also for the synthesis of CoQ10 in the liver.

Therefore, CoQ10 supplementation is always encouraged for statin patients to help prevent side effects.

Consuming 50mg of CoQ10 supplements twice a day has successfully reduced statinrelated mild-to-moderate muscular symptoms, causing lower interference of statinrelated muscular symptoms with daily activities such as noninjury-related muscle ache.

Daily requirement

Currently, there are no established daily dietary intake recommendations for CoQ10. The recommended daily doses are 30mg to 200mg of CoQ10 for adults and 100mg to 200mg for elderly and statin users.

The dosage can be increased up to 300mg daily if a greater heart support is needed or vigorous physical activities such as marathon and hiking are involved.

CoQ10 can be a good option for effective management of heart failure and statin-induced muscle pain. An average daily intake of CoQ10 from food is estimated to be approximately 10mg or less, hence long-term CoQ10 supplementation is advisable.

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