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SUPPLEMENTS

CoQ10

Newsday, 12/31/02

WHAT'S IN THE BOTTLE
COENZYME Q10 SHOWING WIDE POTENTIAL

by Jamie Talan

THE PRODUCT AND WHAT IT'S MARKETED FOR: Coenzyme Q10 is called a vitamin, but it's actually not. It is a component found in membranes of all the cells in the body, and it plays a role in the cell's energy system. It's also been shown to be a potent antioxidant, which means that it seeks out so-called free-radical oxygen molecules and stops them from damaging cells.

Scientists have been impressed with its potential use in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's and Huntington's.

It's also being tested as an aid for heart disease. It is sold in health food stores as an antioxidant to preserve heart and brain health. Healthy people take it with the hope that it will slow aging and age-related diseases, for the same reasons they take vitamin E.

WHAT'S NEW: Scientists at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Center in Manhattan tested coenzyme Q10 in three different doses in 80 newly diagnosed Parkinson's patients.

According to Dr. Flint Beal, an endowed chairman of the neurology department and the lead investigator of the study, the supplement in its highest daily dose of 1,200 mg improved performance on all three tests to measure progression of the illness.

The patients, who were not on any standard Parkinson's medicines, were followed for 16 months. It slowed the progression of the disease by 44 percent, Beal said. At the end of the study, the majority of patients in the groups taking either a placebo or lower doses of CoQ10 needed to take the Parkinson's drug L-dopa to treat their symptoms.

Eleven of the 20 patients taking the highest dose of CoQ10 still did not require L-dopa, a medicine that replaces the depleted brain chemical dopamine. Now, buoyed by the results, published this month in Archives of Neurology, researchers will begin a much larger study to repeat the results.

Beal said scientists are also testing CoQ10 for ALS, also called Lou Gehrig's disease, and Huntington's disease. It also has been used successfully to treat Friedreich's ataxia, a common form of progressive ataxia, which causes people to lose their balance and coordination. The disease is caused by impaired mitochondria, the energy packets within each cell. Iron normally is transported into all cells as it is required for many enzymes. In Friedreich's, however, iron accumulates excessively in mitochondria because of problems transporting it back out of the cell. This increased iron causes stress on the system that leads to damaged cells. It's thought that coenzyme Q10's antioxidant properties help protect the mitochondria from this oxidative damage.

There was also a double-blind placebo-controlled trial of coenzyme Q10 in patients with acute myocardial infarction that found the supplement helped lower angina and arrhythmias when given to patients orally for a month after the initial event.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The research is impressive, Beal and others say. The body is constantly fixing damage caused by oxidative stress on the cells. But over time, there are just so many things to fix, and the system loses efficiency. Scientists have documented that coenzyme Q10 is depleted with age, and it may be possible to replace it synthetically with a supplement. Beal warns, however, that it is too early for patients to begin taking CoQ10 on their own. Wait for the results of the larger study, Beal advises.

OTHER APPROACHES: There are other antioxidants, including vitamin E, which also is being tested for its benefits in Parkinson's, but coenzyme Q10's role in mitochondria may lead to its unique effects.

Copyright 2002, Newsday, Inc.