Friday, January 18, 2008

CoQ10: The Nutrient You Can't Afford to Ignore

By Al Sears, MD

Over 100 studies have shown its direct link to heart disease. But protecting your heart is just one of the benefits of this nutrient. It's also fights cancer, AIDS, high blood pressure, memory loss, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's. It's even helpful in gum disease treatment and prevention.

I'm talking about Co-enzyme Q10, also called CoQ10.

Chances are you won't hear about this super nutrient from your doctor. Although CoQ10 is widely used in Japan, Europe and Israel, the majority of cardiologists and conventional medical doctors in the U.S. ignore it. Some aggressively discourage it.

Her Doctor Threw Her CoQ10 In The Trash!
For instance, a woman came to my clinic with high blood pressure. I measured the CoQ10 level in her blood and it was very low. On my recommendation she began taking CoQ10 as an oral supplement.  Remarkably, she was able to stop both blood pressure medications she was taking, and now maintains normal blood pressure without drugs. She also says she feels "energized for the first time in decades" and reports a sharper memory.

But when she returned to her cardiologist to tell him the good news, rather than rejoice in her success, he became irate. He told her CoQ10 could not possibly help her blood pressure, took her bottle of CoQ10, and threw it in the trash! Incredibly, this is not the only story like this one, and they reveal a troubling double standard. Most doctors know the uses and benefits of drugs but are uninformed, suspicious or even hostile when it comes to nutritional solutions.  This is a shame.

At my Center for Health and Wellness, more than half the patients who were taking drugs for high blood pressure were able to stop their medication with CoQ10 supplementation. My experience is also supported by other researchers. In a University of Texas study, people with high blood pressure took an oral CoQ10 supplement.  Within one month, they experienced marked improvements in blood pressure.  Overall, 51 percent of patients were able to reduce or discontinue their blood pressure medications.(1)

Unfortunately, without the support of pharmaceutical companies, cardiologists and other physicians, it is very difficult to get the message out about the hugely important benefits of CoQ10 supplementation.

In this article, I'm going to show you how powerful CoQ10 is to stop heart disease in its tracks (or even reverse it), to prevent numerous other diseases, to super-charge your energy levels, and to help you look and feel younger.

Energize Your Heart
CoQ10 is an essential cofactor your body uses to derive energy. You cannot survive without it. It's a powerful antioxidant for every cell in your body. CoQ10 is essential for the normal functioning of all your major organs but is especially critical to the energy-guzzling organs like your heart, brain, kidneys, and liver. It provides your body with "high octane" fuel. CoQ10 also:

1. Destroys free radicals before they can damage your cell membranes.
2. Helps prevent arteriosclerosis by reducing the accumulation of oxidized fat in your blood vessels.
3. Eases heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
4. Reduces chest pain and improves exercise tolerance in patients with chronic stable angina.
5. Regulates the rhythm of your heart rate.

Most forms of heart disease have one thing in common: low energy production in the mitochondria (the powerhouses) of the cells. This leads to a condition researchers aptly call "the energy-starved heart."(2)

The very popular cholesterol lowering drugs known as "statins" also cause an energy-starved heart by blocking your body's production of CoQ10. Drug companies know about the CoQ10-depleting side effect of statin drugs. One company even patented a statin-CoQ10 combination drug to offset the CoQ10 stripped from the body. But they decided to hold the patent without releasing the nutrient/drug combination to the public. Instead, they downplay this fact in hopes that the news about this side effect does not interfere with drug sales.(3)

CoQ10 helps in the chemical reactions required for energy production.  This is essential to keep the mitochondria working efficiently. In effect, CoQ10 provides a virtual Fountain of Youth for the cells in your heart and every other cell in your body.

Ward Off Age-Related Diseases
The energy-making process in your cells produces oxidation that can stress or damage cells. This "oxidative stress" contributes to cancer, arteriosclerosis, heart disease, cataracts, arthritis, Alzheimer's and a number of other diseases.

CoQ10 helps the body neutralize free radicals in the cell. It reduces stress on the cells by bolstering the body's antioxidant defenses and cleaning up free radicals before they can damage the cells. In addition, we know that when you increase levels of CoQ10 in your body, levels of other disease-fighting antioxidants go up as well, offering further protection to your cells.

Reverse Aging
As you age, your cells start running out of CoQ10, and the mitochondria simply cannot produce enough energy to meet your body's demands. When stockpiles run low, the mitochondria are less efficient and begin running your body on a less potent fuel. Over time, cheap fuel will take its toll, damaging the mitochondria and contributing to a growing sense of fatigue. But when you restock your body with CoQ10, it rejuvenates cells and renews energy levels.

The affect of aging on CoQ10 organ levels is profound.  As CoQ10 drops, it adversely affects these organs. The lack of CoQ10 to the heart muscle accelerates cardiovascular disease. The decrease of CoQ10 in the pancreas may be a factor in diabetes.

Decline of CoQ10 Levels with Aging(4)

Why You Need CoQ10 Supplementation
You can make CoQ10, but not enough to meet you energy needs so you must get it in your food. And while CoQ10 is in many foods, it's highest in organ meats. Most people do not eat these meats. Even if you didn't mind the idea of eating sheep hearts or cow brains, studies show that today's commercially raised livestock have only one-tenth the CoQ10 of wild game. Consequently, the average diet provides less than 10 mg per day.

Aging, environmental stress, a diet deficient in specific nutrients, certain cholesterol-lowering and psychotropic drugs, chronic long duration exercise, and other lifestyle factors also reduce the levels of CoQ10 in the body.

Boost Your Body's CoQ10 Supply
I recommend taking 30 mg of CoQ10 per day for anyone who is not regularly consuming wild game but is otherwise healthy. If you have high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol, gingivitis, age-related memory loss, chronic fatigue, or are a vegetarian, increase your dose to 100 mg per day.

You can buy CoQ10 in the form of tablets, chewable wafers, or gel caps at many nutrition stores. Powdered capsules are not as well absorbed and I don't recommend them. Gel caps or chewable forms are absorbed better. Because CoQ10 is a fat-soluble nutrient, take it with fat from dairy, eggs, fish or meat for optimal absorption. 

You can even take CoQ10 with a teaspoon of olive oil or fish oil. Grass-fed red meat, eggs and cod liver oil make the best fat choices to take with your CoQ10 because they naturally contain CoQ10. 

Doses May Vary Depending On Your Needs
If you use cholesterol-lowering drugs like statins that reduce the level of CoQ10 in the body, I recommend you supplement with CoQ10.

Beta-blockers and certain psychotropic drugs like phenothiazine and tricyclic antidepressants also inhibit CoQ10-dependent enzymes, so you should speak to your doctor about supplementation with these drugs too.(5)

Patients on Coumadin therapy need to have their proteins checked at regular intervals, and should take CoQ10 only under a physician's supervision.

CoQ10 has been shown to be effective in combination with conventional heart drugs. And with the consent of your physician, it may even allow for a reduction in dosage of conventional medicine.

References:

1. Langsjoen P, et al. Molecular Aspects of Medicine. 1994:15 Suppl: S265-272.
2. How CoQ10 Protects Your Cardiovascular System.  Life Extension Magazine. April 2000.
3. Sears, A.  The Doctor's Heart Cure.  Dragon Door Publ. Minnesota. 2004.
4. Are You Absorbing Enough CoQ10?  Life Extension Magazine. Winter 2004/2005.
5. Challam, J.  Coenzyme Q10:  It May Just Be The Miracle Of The 1990s. The Nutrition Reporter, 12/4/96.

[Ed. Note: Dr. Sears, Chairman of the Board of Total Health Breakthroughs, is a practicing physician and the author of The Doctor's Heart Cure is a leading authority on longevity, physical fitness and heart health. For more information, click here.]

The next time you have trouble falling asleep, consider sending thoughts of warmth and sunshine to your extremities.

No, this isn't some new age mumbo jumbo.  Dr. Matthew Ebben of Cornell University explains that when you sleep, the blood vessels in your hands and feet dilate so that blood can move from your core to your extremities.  This sends warmth to your hands and feet while cooling your body.  It also reduces your metabolic requirement while sleeping and helps to reserve energy for a time of day when your senses are more active.

Earlier Swedish research demonstrated that warm hands and feet are the single best predictor of sleep onset, trumping melatonin or even subjective feelings of sleepiness.(1) But it's not as simple as wearing mittens to bed. The warmth in your hands and feet is a marker for cooling of your body's center and the flow of temperature away from the core. Just warming the extremities physically (i.e., with mittens or socks) won't do it.

So how in the world do you cool your core and warm your extremities?

Enter biofeedback, a technique that involves using mental imagery to achieve measurable physical results such as lowering blood pressure. Biofeedback has been used successfully in over 150 medical conditions.(2)

Dr. Ebben's research used a particular type called temperature biofeedback to accomplish this "central cooling." His team attached electrodes to the hands and feet of subjects, all of whom suffered from insomnia.(3) The electrodes were attached to a computer screen and the subjects could see the readout of their temperature.  Subjects were told to use whatever imagery they could to try to increase the temperature of their hands and feet.

General guidelines like "think of the sun" or "imagine the beach" were suggested. The subjects quickly learned what images worked best for them by simply watching the computer screen and monitoring the increase in temperature.

This is really one technique where it's safe to say "try this at home."  Ebben suggests that those suffering with insomnia might want to get a biofeedback trainer for a couple of sessions. Or "you can buy a cheap temperature monitor for about 20 bucks that you tape to your fingers. They really work. Then you can practice at home."

References:

1. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-
   2869.2004.00398.x
2. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/biofeedback/SA00083
3. The diagnosis of insomnia is made by patient determination and self-report. There is no medical test for it.

[Ed. Note: Dr. Bowden is a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition and health. He's a board certified nutrition specialist with a Master's degree in psychology. Dr. Bowden is also a life coach, motivational speaker, former personal trainer and author of the award-winning book, Living the Low Carb Life.  His new book, The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth was published in January 2008.  For more information, click here.]

Here are my top 5 exercises for building a better butt.  You can do them at home or at the gym with nothing more than your bodyweight or a set of dumbbells. You'll firm and shape your butt fast with these moves. No wasting time.

Do one circuit every other day, doing 10 repetitions for each exercise. Don't rest between exercises.

1. Squats
Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Keep your chest up, push your hips back, and squat to parallel. Squeeze your butt and push back up to the start position.

2. Split Squats
Take a step forward with one leg, bend the front knee, and keep your torso upright. Keep your front foot flat on the floor, but rise up onto the ball of your back foot. Drop your hips straight down and push through the front leg to return to the standing position. Stay in the "split" position for the entire exercise.  Repeat with other leg.

3. Forward Lunges
Take a step forward with one leg, bend the front knee, and keep your torso upright. Keep your front foot flat on the floor, but rise up onto the ball of your back foot. Drop your hips straight down and push through the front leg to return to the start position where both feet are together again.  Repeat with other leg. 

4 . Step-Ups
Stand in front of a bench. Place one foot on the bench. Use that leg to pull yourself up onto the bench. Slowly lower yourself back to the floor.  Repeat with other leg.    

5. One-Leg Hip Extensions
Lie on the ground with your knees bent. Point one leg straight up in the air. Squeeze your butt on the opposite side, and bridge your hips up toward the ceiling so that your body is in a straight line. Slowly lower your hips back down, keeping them one inch off the ground at the bottom position.  Repeat with other leg.

[Ed. note:: Craig Ballantyne is an expert consultant for Men's Health magazine. If you're looking to burn fat, build muscle and quickly step into the body you have always wanted with just three workouts each week click here.]

How did the Japanese become the longest-living people on Earth? One of their secrets is a unique superfood supplement.  The Japanese take more of it than Americans take vitamin C.  Discover how you can feel better than you've felt in years!

Click here for details...

We've all been there.  We're in a tough situation, the pressure's on, others are looking to us to come through.  We want to be at our best, and...we freeze.

Or even worse, we do or say something completely dumb.
 
  Afterwards, we say:  "What was I thinking."  Well the truth is, you weren't thinking.  In the heat of the moment, just when you needed to be at your best, your brain received messages to shut down your higher thinking centers.  The scientific name for this is "cortical inhibition."  Others call it being stupid...Choking...Losing it...

Stress can actually cause our higher thinking centers to turn off.  When that happens, smart people can do some pretty dumb things.

But it doesn't have to happen to you.  You can learn ways to stay at your best and think clearly in any situation.  You can take control of your response to stress.

The folks at the Institute of HeartMath teach a lot of effective techniques to give you that control.  One I can tell you about right now is called Quick Coherence.

There are three simple steps.

First, focus your attention around the area of your heart.  When you're first practicing, you might want to place you had over your heart to help.

 Next, imagine breathing in and out through your heart.

Finally, recall a person, place or thing that you feel true care or appreciation for and attempt to re-experience those emotions.  Don't just remember them, try to feel them.  Positive emotion will send that "all clear" signal.

That's it.  That may seem simple and it is.  But don't underestimate the power of what I've just told you.

Those that understand this technique and others like it remain level-headed and clear-witted — no matter what's going on around them.  They're the ones that come up with answers that seem obvious once they point them out, but nobody could see before. 

They perform at a high level while others flounder.

Would you like to join the ranks of these high performers?  Learn to control the messages your heart sends your brain and you can.

[Ed. Note: Joseph F. McCaffrey, MD, FACS is a board-certified surgeon with extensive experience in alternative medicine, including certification as a HeartMath Trainer.  His areas of expertise include mind-body interaction and cognitive restructuring.  Dr. McCaffrey strives to help people attain their optimum level of vitality through attention to all aspects of wellness.  For more information, click here.]

Rich-flavored lamb mingles with sweet pomegranate and spices for a protein-rich, low calorie indulgence.

Serves: 24

Time to Table: 1.5 hours

Ingredients
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 cup organic pomegranate juice
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt (optional)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pound trimmed boneless leg of organic, grass-fed lamb, cut into twenty-four 3/4-inch cubes
1 large red bell pepper, cut into twenty-four 3/4-inch squares
24 small bamboo skewers, soaked in water 30 minutes, drained

Preparation
Heat small skillet over medium heat. Add cumin and stir until aromatic and lightly toasted, about 2 minutes. Grind cumin in mortar or spice mill. Mix
pomegranate juice, olive oil, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, cinnamon, and cumin in 1-gallon resealable plastic bag. Add lamb; chill at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours. Remove lamb from marinade. Thread 1 lamb piece and 1 red pepper piece on each skewer; place on baking sheet. Cover and refrigerate. Prepare barbecue  to medium-high heat or preheat broiler. Sprinkle kebabs with salt and pepper. Cook, turning often, about 4 minutes for medium-rare.

Nutrition
69 calories, 5 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 3.6 g monounsaturated fats, 0.6 g polyunsaturated fats, 14 mg cholesterol, 9 mg sodium, 1 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 1 g sugars, 4 g protein

[Ed. Note: Kelley Herring is the Founder & CEO of Healing Gourmet, a multimedia company that educates on how foods promote health and protect against disease. She is also the creator of Healing Gourmet's Personalized Nutrition Software and Editor-in-Chief of the Healing Gourmet book series published by McGraw-Hill, including Eat to Fight Cancer, Eat to Beat Diabetes, Eat to Lower Cholesterol and Eat to Boost Fertility. For more information, click here.]

Click here to refer a friend and receive a free Total Health Breakthroughs special report!

Since our launch at the end of July, we've gotten some great feedback from our readers.

We'd like to hear from you about your favorite article, what you'd like to read more of, or anything else you'd like to share with us about Total Health Breakthroughs.

Your feedback is welcomed! You can email us at support@totalhealthbreakthroughs.com.