What is Co-Q10?

I’m Curious about Co-Q10.

Many people now take supplements of CoQ10 on the advice of their doctors or nutritionists to improve heart function, slow down the progression of Parkinson Disease or just to stay healthy. Recently the skin care industry started getting in on the act by adding it to anti-wrinkle products and eye creams. Yet is this necessary when we make it ourselves in the body?

Co-Q10 is a naturally occurring chemical compound attached to enzymes (Co stands for coenzyme). It helps convert glucose into energy for healthy cell growth and acts as a powerful antioxidant to protect cells from free radical damage.  Confusingly Co-Q10 is also called Coenzyme Q10, CoQ10, CoQ, Q10, or simply Q. (see How To Prevent Free Radical Damage Blog May 12th).

So why are people taking it as a supplement?

Levels of this coenzyme decrease as we get older and were found to be particularly low in people with heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Clinical studies have shown that taking supplements of CoQ10 may help some people and more research on Parkinson Disease is currently taking place. However I can’t find results for many skin care tests on humans.

In theory Co-Q10 looks promising as an active ingredient to prevent wrinkles and other signs of aging. If we have less than optimal amounts in our skin it affects our ability to produce elastin which is needed to keep the skin flexible and looking young. Co-Q10 is small enough to penetrate the skin so it could be easy to replace it as we get older. I’m going to test it on myself.

I’ve added some powdered Co-Q10 to one bottle of sun cream to use on the left side of my body and I’ll use an identical bottle of cream without the Co-Q10 on the right side.

Summer has arrived and this experiment will make me much more conscientious about applying lotion before I go out in the sun. I’ll report back if there is any visible difference.

(PS It’s advisable to check with a doctor before taking supplements.)