Protect Your Heart

Feeling tired all the time may be a sign that the body is lacking in a viatmin-like substance called Coenzyme Q10. 

PAUL Lim, 45 years old, works in an advertising firm that requires him to work long hours and entertain clients in the night. The constant late nights and lack of sleep causes him to suffer from brain fog.

How about you? Do you find yourself feeling dull and out of focus or having difficulty concentrating in any hour of the day? Is your memory failing you sometimes?

This subtle loss of brain power is a sign of your body running low on energy.

If you are feeling tired all the time, chances are that your heart is probably not getting the “fuel” that it needs to be strong and healthy. This fuel, Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), is essential for production of energy at the cellular level.

Coenzyme Q10, energy, and heart health
Scientists have discovered that your heart contains 10 times more CoQ10 than any other organ, and it beats 100,000 times a day. None of these beats could have happened without energy. Therefore, the heart, being a non-stop working organ, requires a tremendous amount of continuous energy supply.

Human energy production is a complicated process. The food we eat is broken down into smaller components in the digestive tract. These smaller components are then used by the cells to produce energy. For the cells to convert food to energy, it requires a vitamin-like substance called Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). Without Coenzyme Q10 our body is unable to make energy.
 
What causes CoQ10 deficiency
CoQ10 is produced by every cell of the body. The production of CoQ10 is a 17-step process, which requires at least eight vitamins, several trace minerals, and the amino acid tyrosine. A deficiency in any one of the nutrients due to poor dietary intake can hinder the body’s production of CoQ10.

Age can lower your CoQ10 levels. As we age, our body produces less CoQ10. By the time you reach 50, your heart will be struggling with half the CoQ10 you had when you were 21.

When that happens, your heart cannot work efficiently, and is not able to deliver all the oxygen and nutrients needed by the organs, tissues, and every part of your body. You feel tired and run down.

Intensive exercise can deplete our body’s CoQ10. Stress further exhausts CoQ10 reserves.

Drugs can also cause CoQ10 depletion in the body. An example is the popular cholesterol-lowering drug family, HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitor (statins), which not only lower cholesterol levels, but also CoQ10. Statins block cholesterol synthesis by inhibiting the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase. However, this effect is not selective as it also blocks CoQ10 production.

Studies have shown that CoQ10 depletion from statin use can be reversed with supplementation. Further, CoQ10 supplementation does not appear to affect the cholesterol-lowering efficacy of statins.
 
CoQ10 for healthy cholesterol levels
Researchers have found that not all cholesterols are bad. Cholesterol can be divided generally into HDL-high density lipoprotein (good cholesterol) and LDL-low density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol).
The higher the HDL levels in the blood, the better. LDL is not really bad but becomes a problem only when it is oxidised by free radicals. It is the oxidised LDL that builds up in our arteries and helps to develop the plaque which is characteristic of hardened arteries.

In the bloodstream, 60% CoQ10 is transported by LDL. CoQ10 protects LDL from being oxidised by free radicals. Studies have found that when more CoQ10 is contained in LDL-cholesterol, the less susceptible it is to oxidation and the less likely it is to form artery clogging plague.

The biggest problem with most CoQ10 products is the absorption into the bloodstream. The traditional forms of CoQ10 supplements are not easily absorbed by the body (powdered CoQ10 suspension in soy oil incorporated into softgel capsules, powder based tablets, powder-filled hard gelatin).

The reason is that CoQ10’s particle size is very large, insoluble in water and poorly soluble in lipids, which makes it hard for your body to absorb.

However, an American company has developed a patented Biosolv process which reduces the particle size from 25-70 microns to 0.3 microns – even smaller than bacteria! Hence, this makes it “hydrosoluble”.

As a general rule, the smaller the particle size, the better the absorption. Therefore with hydrosoluble CoQ10, more CoQ10 gets absorbed into your bloodstream to boost energy levels in the body.

Above article is extracted from the star online dated 13rd March 2011