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Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners
Is CO Q10 useful in managing high cholesterol?
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Dr Naras Lapsys
Dietitian
The Body Doctor is a boutique nutrition consultancy that tailor designs eating styles that help you achieve your health, weight and fitness goals. We specialise … View Profile
We do know from science and clinical trials that statin drugs can reduce CO Q10 levels. There are some National Heart bodies that have said that it is worth supplementing with CO Q10 however there is no conclusive scientific evidence. If you have high cholesterol levels and you are not on a statin, then there is some evidence of that CO Q10 can improve overall heart health. It certainly can’t do any harm but it is relatively expensive for something not very conclusive.
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Dr Jason Kaplan
Cardiologist (Heart Specialist)
Dr. Jason Kaplan is a specialist adult cardiologist and physician. Dr. Kaplan studied Medicine at UNSW and graduated with Honours in 1999 then completed his … View Profile
There is a lot of publicity and information on the Internet and in the media about coenzyme Q10 which is a substance called Ubiquinone, and it was discovered over sixty years ago. It is widely used by natural therapists and sold widely in health stores and chemists. However, its role in managing high cholesterol has not been fully proven in large clinical trials. Where it currently gets used, in a significant way, is in people taking statin medications. Statin medications such as Atorvastatin or Rosuvastatin are the most common form of medications prescribed to people to lower cholesterol. It is thought that statin medications lower the levels of Ubiquinone in cells, and thus supplementing people taking statin medication with coenzyme Q10 is beneficial. There has also been small studies suggesting that people taking coenzyme Q10 along with statin medication, may reduce the risk of developing statin induced myalgias - muscle pains, which is the most common side effect that people on statin therapy would experience. Its actual role in lowering cholesterol itself is not so clear at all and there have been no definite proof of this. It has some role at reducing free radicals in the circulation which may have a role in reducing inflammation. It is known that inflammation is the cause of accelerated arteriosclerosis in people; however, at present its role in lowering cholesterol by itself is not certain.
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JoeHealthShare Member
I suffered ĺeg muscle pain while I was taking Rosuvastatin or its generic equivalent despite also taking Coenzyme Q10 so a local gp told me to have a break from the statin which I did and have not returned to taking statins but I am taking Berrgamet which I understand reduces cholesterol
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Prof David Colquhoun
Cardiologist (Heart Specialist)
Associate Professor David Colquhoun is a cardiologist who has been in private practice in Queensland for more than 30 years. He has been involved in … View Profile
Coenzyme Q10 is an interesting molecule which has no place at all in managing high cholesterol. First of all, Coenzyme Q10 in many supplementation trials had no effect at all on cholesterol, triglycerides, etc. What we do know is that if you're on any medication that lowers your cholesterol in the blood, the blood level of Coenzyme Q10 decreases, but so does also about another 1,000 other chemicals which also decrease because they're carrying the bad cholesterol (LDL). There is no indication for supplementation if you're on cholesterol lowering therapy at all. Even if you have side effects from statins, adding the Coenzyme Q10 does not make any difference to side effects in many, many trials.
That does not stop your local pharmacist or health food store wanting to sell you these supplements, which have been proven to be of no value, but they do cost the consumer usually about an extra $50 a month. My general advice is keep that $50 for yourself and go out for a nice dinner, or spend a weekend at the Versace Resort in the Gulf Coast.
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