My New Year’s Resolution: take care of myself and avoid type-2 diabetes. Studies show that daily Coenzyme Q10 supplements are safe for patients with diabetes to take. That is good news because people with diabetes need the heart muscle cell protection that Coenzyme Q10 uniquely provides. Supplementation with Coenzyme Q10 slightly but significantly reduced fasting blood sugar levels and did not affect fasting insulin levels or Hb1Ac levels.
What do we hear about diabetes? It is a silent disease. Its symptoms are often silent until it is too late. None of us wants to get type-2 diabetes.
However, if it should happen, the main thing to know about Coenzyme Q10 supplementation and diabetes is that Coenzyme Q10 supplements are safe for diabetics to take. Of course, diabetics should inform their physicians that they are planning to take a daily Coenzyme Q10 supplement of 100 or 200 milligrams, but there are research results to document that doing so is safe.
In other words, pre-diabetic patients and patients with diabetes can take Coenzyme Q10 supplements to gain these documented heart health benefits:
- Improvement of the ATP energy production in the heart muscle cells [Mortensen]
- Protection of the heart muscle cells against oxidative damage [Alehagen]
- Improvement of endothelial function in the heart and blood vessels [Littarru]
- Reduction of high blood pressure [Rosenfeldt]
This is the conclusion of a 2016 systematic review and meta-analysis of the evidence from well-designed studies of Coenzyme Q10 supplementation [Moradi].
Good news about Coenzyme Q10 for pre-diabetics and diabetics
Okay, pre-diabetics and patients with diabetes may want to talk with their physicians about the meta-analysis conducted by Dr. Moradi and a team of researchers. Pre-diabetics and diabetics can benefit from taking daily Coenzyme Q10 supplements in the same way that participants receiving the active Coenzyme Q10 treatment in the following studies have benefited as compared to participants in the placebo control groups:
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- Chronic heart failure patients in the Q-Symbio study experienced a 43% relative reduction in risk of death from heart disease and an equally large reduction in the risk of hospitalization or re-hospitalization [Mortensen].
- Live-at-home healthy elderly citizens, aged 70-88 years, in the KiSel-10 study experienced a 53% relative reduction in the risk of death from heart disease and statistically significant improvement in heart function and hospitalization rates [Alehagen].
Military veterans diagnosed with Gulf War Illness experienced statistically significant improvements in several physical health and quality of life symptoms [Golomb].
Coenzyme Q10 supplementation and oxidative damage
Okay, the Moradi systematic review showed a slight but statistically significant improvement in fasting blood sugar levels and no significant effect on fasting insulin levels and Hb1Ac levels.
Note: Hb1Ac is a measure of an individual’s average blood sugar levels over a period of months. It is a bio-marker for longer-term blood sugar status.
The good news is that patients diagnosed with diabetes can take Coenzyme Q10 supplements and protect their heart muscle cells and other cells.
Type-2 diabetes and oxidative damage and Coenzyme Q10
There is some evidence – not conclusive as yet – that there could well be an association between oxidative stress and type-2 diabetes. No one knows what the exact mechanisms are that link oxidative damage to an increased risk of developing diabetes [Moradi].
Note: Oxidative stress refers to a gross imbalance in the body between the numbers of harmful free radicals (molecules that are highly reactive) and the numbers of antioxidants, such as Coenzyme Q10, that are available to neutralize the free radicals. Free radicals strip electrons from other molecules, which then re-stabilize themselves by stealing electrons from other molecules. The resulting chain reaction has a domino effect, damaging cell DNA and proteins and lipids in its path.
Free radicals are a constant problem. Our bodies produce them as a by-product in the course of combining glucose with oxygen to produce energy (to put it in the simplest of terms). Moreover, our bodies are constantly exposed to environmental causes of free radicals. At the same time, a certain quantity of free radicals does perform useful functions in the body. It is the gross imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants that is dangerous.
Coenzyme Q10 is an important antioxidant
Where does Coenzyme Q10 fit in? Coenzyme Q10 is an important lipid-soluble antioxidant. Coenzyme Q10 is known to interact with and neutralize harmful free radicals [Saini 2011].
Supplementation with Coenzyme Q10 is important and necessary
Our bodies have to have adequate quantities of the essential bio-nutrient Coenzyme Q10 to perform three basic biological functions:
- To carry out ATP energy production in the cells
- To provide antioxidant protection of the cells
- To help stabilize the cell membranes
It is nearly impossible for us to make up the deficit of Coenzyme Q10 through diet alone. Dr. William Judy of the SIBR Research Institute, says that we would have to eat, every day, two and one-half pounds of steak or one and one-half pounds of liver or four gallons of chopped spinach every day to get enough Coenzyme Q10 from our food.
Daily supplementation with Coenzyme Q10 is necessary for the rest of our lives for most of us once we reach our 30s and 40s and beyond. There are two well-documented reasons for this need for supplementation:
- Our bodies begin to produce less and less Coenzyme Q10 with increasing age once we reach our 20s [Kalén].
- The use of statin medications to block the body’s bio-synthesis of cholesterol also results in the blocking of the body’s bio-synthesis of Coenzyme Q10, an unfortunate unintended consequence of taking a statin medication [Littarru, Okuyama].
It is for these reasons – the decreasing bio-synthesis of Coenzyme Q10, the inadequacy of Coenzyme Q10 in the typical diet, and the inhibiting effect of some medications – that diminished blood and tissue levels of Coenzyme have been associated with ageing and the development of degenerative diseases such as heart disease and cancer.
Testing of the Coenzyme Q10 supplement used in the Q-Symbio and KiSel-10 studies
The same formulation that was used as the active treatment in the Q-Symbio study and the KiSel-10 study has been tested in randomized controlled studies enrolling patients diagnosed with diabetes.
- Dr. Henriksen et al showed that daily supplementation of type-1 diabetics with 100 milligrams of Coenzyme Q10 for three months did not affect blood sugar status or insulin requirements. Neither did the Coenzyme Q10 supplementation cause any changes in the feeling of well-being of the diabetic patients. The researchers’ conclusion from the results of the study was that type-1 diabetics can safely take Coenzyme Q10 for its heart health benefits.
- Dr. Eriksson et al showed that daily supplementation of type-2 diabetics with 100 milligrams of Coenzyme Q10 for six months did not affect glycemic or metabolic control. The researchers concluded that Coenzyme Q10 is safe for use as an adjunctive treatment of type-2 diabetes patients with associated heart disease diagnoses [Eriksson].
Bottom line: Coenzyme Q10 and diabetes
Daily Coenzyme Q10 supplementation is safe for diabetes patients and is associated with significant heart health outcomes. Diabetes patients will want to discuss Coenzyme Q10 supplementation with their physicians and cardiologists. The reference list below is a good starting point for such a discussion.
Sources
Alehagen, U., Johansson, P., Björnstedt, M., Rosén, A., & Dahlström, U. (2013). Cardiovascular mortality and N-terminal-proBNP reduced after combined selenium and coenzyme Q10 supplementation: a 5-year prospective randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial among elderly Swedish citizens. International Journal of Cardiology, 167(5), 1860-1866.
Eriksson, J. G., Forsén, T. J., Mortensen, S. A., & Rohde, M. (1999). The effect of coenzyme Q10 administration on metabolic control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Biofactors (Oxford, England), 9(2-4), 315-318.
Golomb, B. (2014). Coenzyme Q10 and gulf war illness. Neural Computation, 26(11), 2594-651.
Henriksen, J. E., Andersen, C. B., Hother-Nielsen, O., Vaag, A., Mortensen, S. A., & Beck-Nielsen, H. (1999). Impact of ubiquinone (coenzyme Q10) treatment on glycaemic control, insulin requirement and well-being in patients with Type 1 diabetes mellitus. Diabetic Medicine: A Journal of the British Diabetic Association, 16(4), 312-318.
Littarru, G. P., Tiano, L., Belardinelli, R., & Watts, G. F. (2011). Coenzyme Q10, endothelial function, and cardiovascular disease. Biofactors (Oxford, England), 37(5), 366-373.
Moradi, M., Haghighatdoost, F., Feizi, A., Larijani, B., & Azadbakht, L. (2016). Effect of Coenzyme Q10 Supplementation on Diabetes Biomarkers: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Clinical Trials. Archives of Iranian Medicine, 19(8), 588-596.
Mortensen, S. A., Rosenfeldt, F., Kumar, A., Dolliner, P., Filipiak, K. J., Pella, D., & Littarru, G. P. (2014). The effect of coenzyme Q10 on morbidity and mortality in chronic heart failure: results from Q-SYMBIO: a randomized double-blind trial. JACC. Heart Failure, 2(6), 641-649.
Okuyama, H., Langsjoen, P. H., Hamazaki, T., Ogushi, Y., Hama, R., Kobayashi, T., & Uchino, H. (2015). Statins stimulate atherosclerosis and heart failure: pharmacological mechanisms. Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, 8(2), 189-199.
Rosenfeldt, F. L., Haas, S. J., Krum, H., Hadj, A., Ng, K., Leong, J., & Watts, G. F. (2007). Coenzyme Q10 in the treatment of hypertension: a meta-analysis of the clinical trials. Journal of Human Hypertension, 21(4), 297-306.
Saini, R. (2011). Coenzyme Q10: The essential nutrient. Journal of Pharmacy & Bio-allied Sciences, 3(3), 466-467.
Disclaimer: The information presented in this review article is not intended as medical advice and should not be construed as such.
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