Supplement Your Diet with CoQ10

 

There have been over 100 studies at major universities and hospitals linking a deficiency of coenzyme Q10 with heart disease. But that’s not the only reason you should be supplementing with this essential nutrient:

* CoQ10 is required for deriving energy from oxygen. Without it, energy-guzzling organs like your heart, brain, kidneys, and liver suffer.

* In addition to supplying energy, CoQ10 is a powerful antioxidant. That’s beneficial because our bodies generate energy in a sort of “slow burn” of nutrients. But that slow burn damages tissue in much the same way fire oxidizes everything it contacts. Antioxidants quench this fire and protect tissues from damage. CoQ10 is the only substance we know of with the dual role of helping your body derive fuel from food while protecting you from the effects of burning that fuel.

* Although our bodies can make some CoQ10, we don’t make enough for optimum health. And its production declines as we age.

* The principle food source of CoQ10 is red meat. Just as it is in our bodies, it is concentrated in the animal organs. And that’s one of the problems. When is the last time you ate kidneys or brains or heart? Another problem is that levels of CoQ10 in commercial livestock are very low when compared to wild game. Livestock are fed an unnatural diet of grains, while confinement prevents them from getting adequate exercise. At the same time, they are artificially fattened with hormones. All these conditions inhibit healthy CoQ10 levels.

According to Dr. Al Sears, if you are not regularly consuming wild game and are otherwise healthy, you should be taking 30 mg of CoQ10 per day. If you have high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol, gingivitis, age-related memory loss, chronic fatigue, or are a vegetarian, increase your dose to 100 mg per day.

CoQ10 is soluble in oil only. So, as with vitamin E, eat some kind of fat or oil when you take it or your gut won’t absorb it very well.

(Source: Dr.  Al Sears’ Health Confidential for Men)