What Are the Benefits of Taking CoQ10?
So, what about CoQ10? In truth, lots of people don’t fully understand what CoQ10 is, how it works, and what the benefits of taking CoQ10 really are. Today, let’s dispel some of the mystery and explore the advantages of using CoQ10 in supplements or skincare products.
What Is CoQ10?
In a nutshell, CoQ10 stands for coenzyme Q10. This coenzyme naturally occurs in the body and is vital for several important bodily processes. For example, CoQ10 is a powerful antioxidant. Antioxidants like CoQ10 protect your body’s cells from damage caused by free radicals. Think of free radicals as imbalanced molecules that lack an electron, so they bounce around and potentially cause damage to surrounding tissue.
CoQ10 can donate or take an electron from free radicals, helping those molecules to stabilize. However, CoQ10 does more than just this.
It also plays an important role in your metabolism, which dictates how efficiently your body burns calories for energy. Generally, the higher your body’s metabolism, the easier it is to lose weight and vice versa.
While CoQ10 is found naturally in the body, we often need more of it than we create. Fortunately, we can find plenty of coenzyme Q10 in our foods:
- Oily fish, including sardines, salmon, mackerel, and tuna
- Broccoli,
- Chicken and beef
- Peanuts
- Fruits like strawberries and oranges
- Sesame seeds
All of these food sources can help you avoid mitochondrial dysfunction and symptoms of low levels of CoQ10.
But you can also get CoQ10 in skincare products, vegan gummies, supplement capsules, and a variety of other sources.
Why bother?
It turns out that there’s scientific evidence for the benefits of taking CoQ10 supplements. High CoQ10 levels are important for the liver, the kidneys, and other crucial organs. Plus, CoQ10 deficiency may lead to side effects or health issues such as low blood sugar, nausea, congestive heart failure, muscle weakness, and more.
Here are a few of the specific benefits of CoQ10 studied so far.
Heart Benefits
For starters, there’s some evidence to suggest that CoQ10 could provide heart benefits over the long term. For many people, heart failure starts with other heart conditions like high blood pressure or coronary artery disease. In turn, these conditions can cause inflammation of the arteries and veins, oxidative damage, and a variety of other negative symptoms.
Some studies indicate that treatments with CoQ10 can improve the symptoms of various heart disease-related conditions. While CoQ10 cannot solve heart disease or treat any conditions by itself, it may minimize symptoms or provide other beneficial effects still being studied.
Potential Fertility Boosts
On top of that, there’s some evidence to suggest that CoQ10 may help with fertility, especially in females. That’s because scientists believe CoQ10 is directly involved in the female fertility process.
As women get older, their production of CoQ10 slows down. Their bodies become less effective and efficient at defending their eggs from regular oxidative damage. CoQ10 supplementation can help protect women’s eggs from exposure to oxidation, thus leading to benefits for female fertility.
Similarly, males may experience fertility benefits from taking CoQ10. Sperm is also vulnerable to oxidative damage, but supplements with CoQ10 could improve sperm concentration, quality, and activity.
Skin Improvements
Of course, CoQ10 may also help your skin look and feel younger even as you get older. Remember, your skin is your body’s largest organ. It’s exposed to tons of damaging agents and oxidative factors each day, which can contribute to aging symptoms like wrinkles, dark spots, and more.
But even if you live in a dry, hot environment or expose your skin to a lot of UV radiation, CoQ10 may help. By applying skincare products with CoQ10 directly to the skin, you may see reduced damage from both internal and external agents.
Furthermore, CoQ10 may help your skin produce more energy in its cells and enjoy additional antioxidant protection. Some people even find that CoQ10 decreases the depth of their wrinkles over time.
Headache Reduction
Do you experience frequent headaches? Your headaches just might be due to abnormal mitochondrial functionality in your cells. This dysfunction might cause your body to absorb and store extra calcium, which can eventually lead to low energy in your brain cells and headache-like symptoms.
CoQ10, as a coenzyme, is located primarily in your cells' mitochondria. Giving your cells more CoQ10 may improve their functionality and reduce inflammation from migraines, mild headaches, and related instances. Several studies have shown that supplements with CoQ10 are likely to reduce migraines or headache-like symptoms in individuals who experience these regularly.
Improved Exercise Performance
Want to bolster your exercise performance and maximize your gains? CoQ10 could help with that, too. That’s because oxidative stress significantly affects how well your muscles function. Furthermore, if your cells’ mitochondria aren’t functioning properly, you could experience reduced muscular energy.
CoQ10 can help with both of these instances. For example, CoQ10 may help to decrease oxidative stress in your cells and improve how well their mitochondria function. Some studies indicate that taking CoQ10 supplements regularly can decrease oxidative stress and increase power during exercise motions.
Bolster the Brain
CoQ10’s potential benefits aren’t limited to physical performance, however. Some studies indicate that CoQ10 can improve brain functionality.
Recall that mitochondria are your brain cells' primary energy generators. As the performance of your mitochondria decreases, so too does the energy available to your brain. Plus, your brain is generally susceptible to oxidative damage since it is comprised of lots of fatty acids.
CoQ10 may reduce the buildup of harmful compounds that can lead to oxidative stress. In turn, this may lead to fewer issues with cognition, memory, and other mental functions as you get older. In this way, CoQ10 protects your brain and supports cognitive function.
Is CoQ10 Right for Everyone?
Although CoQ10’s benefits are still being studied and seem to be widespread, it’s not a wonder cure for everything. That said, there’s certainly nothing wrong with giving your body a little more CoQ10 to work with, especially if your diet is a little narrow or limited for one reason or another.
It may be a wise idea to speak to a dietitian or health expert before pursuing CoQ10 supplements specifically. Alternatively, you can simply look for CoQ10 in healthy supplements you are already taking or supplements that are intended to provide wide-ranging benefits for several systems or goals.
Since CoQ10 is a natural compound, you don’t have to worry about side effects with this supplementary ingredient, even if you get a lot of it from your diet and from organic tablets or gummies.
Still, we recommend trying any new supplement sparingly at first to make sure it agrees with your body. Once you’ve tested it for a few days, continue taking it regularly and see if you notice any of the above benefits for yourself!
Summary
All in all, CoQ10 is a great coenzyme that may provide several, well-rounded benefits across your body.
It’s similar to many of our top organic supplements in this way, like our Hair, Skin, and Nails Gummies. For more information or to check out other wellness supplements to boost your body, visit Hope Health’s online store today.
Sources:
The role of oxidative stress and antioxidants in male fertility | NCBI
Coenzyme Q10, a cutaneous antioxidant and energizer | NCBI
Efficacy of coenzyme Q10 in migraine prophylaxis: a randomized controlled trial | NCBI
A randomized trial of coenzyme Q10 in mitochondrial disorders | NCBI
Evaluation of coenzyme Q as an antioxidant strategy for Alzheimer's disease | NCBI