Could an antioxidant with a strange-sounding name hold the answer to congestive heart failure and two debilitating and often-deadly neurological disorders? Could it also boost athletic performance in healthy people, improve memory and combat gum problems?
Those are just some of the health claims for coenzyme Q10, or "CoQ," a substance that proponents such as the Life Extension Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., tout as being able to make "old hearts young again." U.S. sales of CoQ, which is available in most places where vitamins and dietary supplements are sold, total about $110 million annually, according to Jed Meese, vice president of Vitaline, one of its makers.
As is often the case with dietary supplements, the science that has been done does not justify all of the claims. But some preliminary scientific evidence for CoQ looks "tantalizing," said Rebecca Costello, deputy director of the National Institutes of Health's Office of Dietary Supplements. In fact, it's been promising enough to launch a $2-million, NIH-sponsored, multi-center pilot study of CoQ in 80 people with early-stage Parkinson's disease and a second federally funded study, a $6.5-million, four-year trial of 347 people with Huntington's disease. The progressive neurological illnesses cause disability and death.
Coenzyme Q10 is produced by mitochondria, the power plants of cells. It was discovered in cow hearts in 1956 by University of Wisconsin biochemist Frederick Crane as he tried to determine how heart cells convert sugar into energy that enables the heart to beat.
At first, Crane and his team thought they might have stumbled upon a new vitamin, which they named Q. But further research showed that it was a coenzyme, a substance that serves as the spark for a chemical reaction in the body. Subsequently, CoQ, also known as ubiquinone, has been found in every human cell that contains mitochondria and is recognized as a key antioxidant, a substance that may help protect against heart disease and cancer.
But even many supporters caution that it's too early to know whether CoQ can play a role in the prevention and treatment of diseases. Results from a variety of clinical trials have often been contradictory.
Crane, who began taking 180 milligrams of CoQ daily about six years ago, cautions that there's still much to be learned about this potent antioxidant before it is widely used as a supplement. "If you are a healthy young person, you're probably making all that you need," he said.
