Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) benefits many conditions and reduces aging (see our CoQ10: Anti-Aging and Pro-Health and Idebenone: A Better Coenzyme Q10 flyers); it is crucial, however, for those who have, or are at risk for, heart disease and cancer, and mandatory for anyone taking statins for cholesterol. (The FDA is considering mandatory warnings alerting those taking statins that CoQ10 supplementation is required.) Low CoQ10 levels cause and aggravate muscle weakness and atrophy, heart and liver disease, and cancer, among other conditions.

“Cardiovascular disease may be very significantly caused by a deficiency of CoQ10.” So said Dr. Karl Folkers, famed for, among numerous accomplishments, discovering vitamin B-12’s structure, synthesizing Vitamin B-6, and discovering CoQ10’s structure and synthesis. His statement isn’t surprising given the heart’s ferocious appetite for energy. CoQ10 is widely prescribed in Europe and Japan as an effective — and side-effect free — treatment for irregular heartbeat, angina, congestive heart failure, and cardiomyopathy. (Acetyl-L-carnitine and lipoic acid are related; our flyers have details.) Beyond its role in cardiovascular function, CoQ10 is known to prevent or stop cancer.

Low CoQ10 levels are linked to tumors and cancers, and supplementation can deliver remissions in otherwise untreatable cases, including lung, breast, and prostate. When combined with traditional chemotherapy and radiation, CoQ10 amplifies treatment results while protecting the heart and liver from damage — often severe enough to require transplants — and minimizing or eliminating many side effects including nausea, vomiting, and hair-loss. CoQ10 levels are severely reduced, to the point of serious illness, by many medications, including heart-related drugs like beta-blockers and statins.

Statins — Advicor, Crestor, Lescol, Lipitor, Mevacor, Pravachol, Zocor, etc. — inhibit CoQ10 production so severely that side effects include muscle pain and wasting, heart disease, liver damage, kidney failure, fatigue, and cancer. (Merck patented packaging CoQ10 with statins, but has never sold the combination.) Baycol was yanked from the market after it suppressed CoQ10 to the point of death, and Crestor is considered to be equally unsafe. Numerous petitions submitted by doctors to the FDA seeking mandatory statin warnings contain statements like, “Statin-induced CoQ10 deficiency can be completely reversed by supplemental CoQ10.”

CoQ10 supplementation should be required for everyone, since we are all at risk for heart disease, liver disorders, and cancer, even if we don’t take statins. Widely accepted as safe, effective, and highly beneficial, CoQ10’s other name is ubiquinone, from the Latin meaning “everywhere”; why aren’t you taking it?