Coenzyme Q10, Statins, and Heart Health

Feb. 27, 2009 - PRLog -- Coenzyme Q10 is a top cardio-friendly nutrient.  Your heart has very high energy requirements and never gets to take any time off.  Q10 is required for the proper production of energy at an optimal rate, around your body and specifically for your heart.  If you lack it, you will be more tired and you will make free radicals instead of energy.  If you lack Q10 within your heart it will speed up the aging process and weaken your heart.  

Q10 also operates as a direct antioxidant in cell membranes, meaning that it is highly protective to your overall circulatory system, having a direct benefit to support healthy blood pressure.  It also acts as an antioxidant team player, helping vitamins E and C maintain their antioxidant roles which provides additional synergistic cardiovascular protection.

It is very clear from the literature that statins interfere with the natural production of Q10, which is evidenced by lower blood levels of Q10 in patients taking statins.  It has been known for over a decade that statin drugs reduce Q10 levels as much as 25% and that 100 mg of Q10 is enough to offset a relatively low dose of statins (20 mg of Zocor.)

Since Q10 is essential for energy production within cells, energy is reduced.  This results in fatigue, makes it more difficult to exercise, and is part of the reason for muscle aches and pains in some statin-taking patients.  The interference with cell energy production results in an increased production of lactic acid, which contributes to muscle aches.  In patients with muscle pain associated with statin use a double blind study showed that 100 mg per day of Q10 reduced pain by 40%.

The medical profession does not endorse the widespread use of Q10 with all statin takers because it cannot be proven that a lack of Q10 is the cause of all statin-related muscle pain.  This will never be proven, because statins cause muscle pain in multiple ways.  Statins turn on gene signals that damage muscles in a percentage of patients, independent of Q10.  It seems to elude the logic of doctors that if a drug causes a depletion of a nutrient then the nutrient should be consumed to make up for the deficiency.

One study showed that the adverse side effects in fifty consecutive patients was so bad (muscle pain, fatigue, difficulty breathing, memory loss, and nerve problems) that they were all taken of statins and put on 240 mg a day of Q10 to recover.  After a year the great majority of adverse side effects had been cleared up.  It is pretty obvious that the side effects of statins are under-reported.

One of the serious side effects of statins is actual damage to the heart resulting in the condition known as cardiomyopathy.  The severe side effects of statins in people over 70 are so bad that their use cannot be justified.  Indeed, there are now over 450,000 new cases of heart failure per year in this older group of Americans, and it is likely that statins are a cause of this dramatically expanding health problem.

An animal study helps shed light on why some people may get cardiomyopathy and others don’t.  Animals lacking in friendly nitric oxide (eNOS), which manifests as high blood pressure, were more at risk of cardiovascular toxicity from statins.  This is interesting because Q10 is also an antioxidant and a lack of eNOS implies that antioxidants in the circulatory system are already low.  Also, as fatigue in any individual increases then free radicals within cells increase, something that Q10 helps reduce.

Thus, if Q10 levels are driven down even further it might cause major problems.  This means the worse the health a person is in, the greater the need to be sure to take Q10, especially if on a statin.  The combination of high blood pressure and type II diabetes would flag an individual already seriously lacking eNOS activity.  Indeed, a brand new study shows that 200 mg of Q10 per day improves circulation in type II diabetic patients taking statins.

On the other side of the coin, taking Q10 is helpful in restoring cellular energy production within your heart and around your body.  It also helps reduce free radical production in your general circulation, improving the status of friendly nitric oxide to relax your vascular system – thereby supporting healthy blood pressure.

These positive influences of Q10 for cardiovascular health extend far beyond the notion of simply correcting a deficiency.  It is more of an anti-aging concept for your cardiovascular system.

The fact that for those taking statins their Q10 is lowered as an adverse side effect is a very serious health issue.  This is especially true for older Americans or for anyone who has a more advanced situation of poor health, such as type II diabetes and high blood pressure.  

Unfortunately, there are millions of Americans being given statins who are in this high risk health category wherein a lack of Q10 could aggravate already lacking antioxidant and energy systems, thus making their heart health worse.  It is shocking that the rate of heart failure in those over the age of 65 has doubled over the past two decades in direct proportion to the increase of statin use – with over 450,000 extra cases of heart failure per year.  

This new finding on heart failure was reported for the very first time at last fall’s yearly meeting of the American Heart Association.  It received very little press, while the media was instead fed another round of faulty vitamin E data – an ongoing attempt by the AHA to get consumers to stop taking vitamins and just take drugs.

It is not easy to sweep 450,000 cases of serious injury under the rug.  I seem to be the only one, even in the alternative health industry, who is pointing out this glaring problem.  If you are taking a statin it is prudent to consume a dose of Q10 ranging from 100 mg – 300 mg a day.  Higher doses would be warranted for those in poorer health.

And for anyone, keep in mind that Q10 is a top cardio-friendly nutrient that can help keep you energized, your heart happy, and your circulation flowing along in a less stressed condition.  

Byron J. Richards, Founder/Director of Wellness Resources, Inc., is a Board-Certified Clinical Nutritionist and a world renowned natural health expert. Richards is the first to explain the relevance of leptin and its link to solving obesity.

For a fully referenced article: Coenzyme Q10, Statins, and Heart Health.

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Wellness Resources is a family owned nutritional supplement company based in Minneapolis, MN. The founder, Byron Richards, CCN is the author of "Fight for Your Health: Exposing the FDA's Betrayal of America."