Study Finds Coenzyme Q10 May Help Protect Against Alzheimer Disease

By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, April 25, 2006, abstracted from Coenzyme Q10 modulates cognitive impairment against intracerebroventricular injection of streptozotocin in rats�?printed online in Behavioural Brain Research

First identified in 1957, Coenzyme Q10 is also known as “ubiquinone�?because it is found everywhere in the body. The highest amounts are in the heart, liver, kidneys, and pancreas and the lowest amounts are in the lungs. The first applications for CoQ10 came in the 1961 when it was found that cancer patients were deficient in the enzyme.(1)

But research has also shown it to be a tremendously versatile supplement for a number of other conditions including heart disease ( 2) and migraines (3) Interest in CoQ10’s ability to sustain health continues to grow, since CoQ10 levels can decrease in the body by as much as 83% as we age,(4) increasing cell damage,(5) causing premature aging and increasing the risk of disease.(6)

CoQ10 also possesses the ability to help decrease inflammation .(7) It is the anti-inflammatory properties of CoQ10 that led a new study(8) to conclude that CoQ10 may help in the treatment of Alzheimer Disease (AD). This disease affects 4.5 million Americans, is expected to hit 16 million by 2050(9) and costs our healthcare system $100 billion each year.(10)

In the study, four groups of ten rats each were given either placebo, 10 mg per kg of bodyweight of CoQ10 in corn oil each day, an injection of streptozotocin (STZ) to induce brain damage, or both CoQ10 and the STZ injection for three weeks. The researchers then had the rats complete maze tests and measured levels of an enzyme known to be depleted in AD patients.

Researchers found that the time to finish the maze was “significantly prolonged�?in the STZ group not taking CoQ10 while also showing “a poorer learning performance�?compared to the other three groups. In addition to finding “significantly [higher]�?oxidative damage in the STZ group not taking CoQ10, this group also had a significant decrease in the enzyme that is depleted in the brain of AD patients.

Although this was an animal study and CoQ10 was given in very high amounts, researchers still concluded that “the study demonstrates that CoQ10 may have a therapeutic importance in the treatment of Alzheimer's type dementia.�?/FONT>

31/07/2007 - Supplementation with the coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) may boost naturally occurring antioxidant enzymes and endothelial function in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), researchers have found.

The randomised, double-blind, placebo controlled trial, published in the European Heart Journal, is yet another positive result for CoQ10 and its heart health benefits.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a blockage of the vessels which supply the heart with blood.

The study, led by Luca Tiano from Italy's Polytechnic University of the Marche, divided 38 CAD patients into two groups, with one receiving 100 mg/d of CoQ10 and the other a placebo for one month.

CAD reduces extracellular superoxide dismutase (ecSOD), a major antioxidant enzyme system of blood vessel walls. However, the CoQ10-supplemented group had more ecSOD at the end of the trial than the placebo group.

Tiano stated the coenzyme also boosted endothelial function. She said: "The data from our group highlighted that CoQ10 greatly attenuates the endothelial dysfunction in patients affected by ischaemic heart disease."

The improvements were particularly significant in patients with low initial endothelium-bound ecSOD, who were more prone to oxidative stress, the study found.

The results found that ecSOD activity raised from 17.3+1.7 to 22.4+1.3 U/mL/min in the treated group, whereas there was only a slight change in the placebo group, from 16.6+1.6 to 17.3+1.6 U/mL/min.

"The results of the present investigation indicate that the oral CoQ10 supplementation in CAD patients has beneficial effects, which can be ascribed either to the bioenergetic role of the quinone or to its antioxidant properties," the study said.

"Moreover, recent data from our group demonstrated that the CoQ10 administration improves cardiac contractility in ischaemic heart disease patients, measured by low dobutamine stress echocardiography."

"Although the effect of CoQ10 on the ED relaxation has already been shown in patients with type II diabetes10 and ischaemic heart disease, the effect of CoQ10 on raising ecSOD levels represents a novel observation."

Source: European Heart Journal; July 2007, doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehm267
"Effect of coenzyme Q10 administration on endothelial function and extracellular superoxide dismutase in patients with ischaemic heart disease: a double-blind, randomized controlled study."
Authors: Luca Tiano, Romualdo Belardinelli, Paola Carnevali, Federica Principi, Giovanna Seddaiu, and Gian Paolo Littarru.