- but may he helped with Q10

Periodontal disease (tooth loss) affects most of us at some point. Because it is an insidious disease, it is important to set in with early prevention on several accounts. It is not a matter of saving your teeth and smile - your heart and cardiovascular system are also a target of the ailment.

People suffering from periodontal disease often lack Q10 in their gum tissue. This was shown as early as in 1971. In the meantime, numerous studies have demonstrated that supplements of Q10 have a positive effect on the feared disease. Because the body has difficulty with absorbing Q10 from supplements it is important to choose products that can document their bio-availability. It may also be a good idea to consider taking extra selenium, as this trace element optimizes the effect of Q10.

Q10 is a lipid-soluble coenzyme that is found in all the body's cells, except for the red blood cells. Carbohydrate, fat, and protein get converted into energy by means of Q10 and the oxygen we breathe. This process takes place inside the small, cellular power stations called mitochondria. To begin with, Q10 contributes to storing the energy in a chemical form called ATP (adenosine triphosphate). After that, Q10 makes sure that the energy is released in step with the shifting energy requirement of the cells.

Heart, brain, muscle, liver, kidney, and sperm cells contain particularly many mitochondria and large amounts of Q10, as they are highly dependent on energy. Q10 also functions as an antioxidant that protects cells and their mitochondria against DNA damage. We human produce most of the Q10 we need but this ability deteriorated with increasing age.

Q10 is a key element in the cellular energy turnover and also serves as a protective antioxidant. The human body is able to make most of its own Q10 but as we grow older, our endogenous Q10 synthesis decreases, and this is also the case with certain diseases and as a result of using specific types of medicine. A large meta-analysis has shown that Q10 supplementation is able to reduce chronic fatigue in healthy individuals as well as in people with diseases. Apparently, taking larger doses for longer periods of time works best for energy levels. It is important to choose a Q10 supplement that has the right quality and comes with documentation to ensure that the Q10 molecules are absorbed properly in the blood and reach the energy-producing powerhouses of the cells.

Ever since the discovery of coenzyme Q10 in 1957, scientists have been conducting research with this intriguing nutrient that appears to play a crucial role in human health. Another word for coenzyme Q10 is “ubiquinone” because of its omnipotent importance. “Ubi” means everywhere. In 2006, a new type of CoQ10 called “ubiquinol” surfaced commercially. Clever marketing campaigns attempted to pawn this off as the new and improved CoQ10 source that was absorbed more easily in the body and was superior to ubiquinone. Consumers as well as scientists got confused and started questioning the traditional form of CoQ10 – ubiquinone – although it had been sold commercially and used in studies all along.

More expensive and less stable

Is there really a difference? Is ubiquinol better than ubiquinone? Little information is available about this and to be honest, nobody really knows. In fact, the only known differences between these two types of CoQ10, besides their color (ubiquinol is milky white and ubiquinone is yellowish) is that ubiquinol is a more expensive raw material and is less stable, biochemically speaking.