If you or someone you know is taking statin drugs, it’s vitally important that you understand some of the risks that are associated with them. Your doctor or pharmacist may not tell you about it, but your life is your own, so you should know this:
Statin drugs block the creation of cholesterol in the liver. One unfortunate side effect is that they also dramatically decrease the production of Coenzyme Q10 (also called CoQ10 or Ubidecarenone).
A Columbia University Study found that 30 days of statin treatment (80 mg/day) cut the CoQ10 production in half.
A second study in Kanazawa University in Japan, found that even smaller amounts (10mg/day) cut CoQ10 by 40% over 8 weeks of treatment.
why is CoQ10 is so important?
Of the cells in your body, your heart cells use the most energy. In each of these cells, there are little energy “generators” called Mitochondria. The fuel for these generators is called ATP or Adenosine Triphosphate. ATP can’t be made without CoQ10.
Now, the good thing is that your body naturally produces CoQ10. If your body doesn’t produce enough of it, you can get a small amount of extra CoQ10 by eating foods that are rich in it like animal heart, or liver. The reality is, that there’s no way that you can get the necessary quantity of CoQ10 by just eating foods. Frankly, you probably wouldn’t enjoy eating that much heart and liver even if you could.
There are a variety of CoQ10 supplements out there, they aren’t all created equal. That’s a discussion for another day. In the meanwhile, this is the CoQ10 suppliment that I’m recommending to patients that come into my store.
As far as I know the compound is “ubiquinol” and you can also get it from Portuguese sardines but I use fat and water soluble C0Q10, a gram a day since I had a butcher put me on lipitor for 7 years and virtually destroyed my liver’s ability to produce it. Dr. Golumb UCSD statin study thinks I have a dysfunction now at the cellular level as a result of it. the other thing is you better tell your patients to be very careful as to what perscription drugs you’re on … Ticlid, water pills, many ace inhibitors, Ramiprill, etc. either BLOCK the uptake of Ubiquinol or actually leach it from your body. My current cardiologist knows about my condition and knew about the depleting effect of the pharmecuticals but ignored it and didn’t tell me because it’s Ubiquinol is not a prescription drug and they don’t care. Mind you this doctor is possibly the best stent mechanic at Johns Hopkins.
jccampb
You are correct in the results of taking statin drugs plus many of the other blood pressure lowering agent depleting CoQ10 from our bodies. Ubiquinol is one option to increase your bodies supply of CoQ10. The formula in Heartworx is another option. Clinically as a pharmacist I have had great success in reducing the adverse affects of my patients taking the statin drugs. The key change is a great increase in energy after my patients take the Heatworx products. Result are seen in as soon as 1 week.