Anti-Aging: Coenzyme Q10

Yet, its value for general health and nutrition is rather well known and well researched. CoQ10 has at least two important roles in the body. First, it is one of the essential cogs in the biochemical machinery that produces biological energy (ATP) inside the cells. Second, CoQ10 is an antioxidant. It helps neutralize harmful free radicals, which are one of the causes of aging. Under perfect conditions, the body can produce as much CoQ10 as it needs. However, various factors, such as aging, stress and some medications, can lower the levels of CoQ10 in the body. As a result, the ability of cells to withstand stress and regenerate declines. Unfortunately, the levels of CoQ10 in the body almost inevitably decline with age. In fact, CoQ10 is regarded as one of the most accurate biomarkers of aging since its decline correlates so well with the aging process. In some studies, rodents treated with supplemental CoQ10 lived up to 30 percent longer than their untreated counterparts. The effects of CoQ10 supplements on human longevity remain unknown. On the other hand, it was proven useful in treating certain human diseases, including heart failure and hypertension. What can CoQ10 do for your skin? Theoretically speaking, CoQ10 (in a skin cream, for example) can be helpful. In most people over thirty, levels of CoQ10 in the skin are below optimum, resulting in lesser ability to produce collagen, elastin and other important skin molecules. Besides, CoQ10-depleted skin may be more prone to the damage by free radicals, which are particularly abundant in the skin since it is exposed to the elements. Thus, CoQ10 may boost skin repair and regeneration and reduce free radical damage. Furthermore, CoQ10 is a small molecule that can relatively easily penetrate into skin cells. Based on this rationale as well as the drive to put new products on the m This vitamin-like substance is, by nature, present in all human cells and responsible for the production of the body�s own energy. In each human cell food energy is converted into energy for our body in the mitochondria with the aid of CoQ10. 95% of all our body�s energy requirements (ATP) is converted with the aid of CoQ10[1][2]. Therefore those organs with the highest energy requirements � such as the heart, the lungs and the liver � have the highest CoQ10 concentrations[3][4][5].Coenzyme Q was first discovered by professor Fred L. Crane and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Enzyme Institute in 1957.[6][7] In 1958, its chemical structure was reported by Professor Karl Folkers and coworkers at Merck.[8][7] For his discovery of the significant part played by CoQ10 in energy production, the British scientist Peter D. Mitchell was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1978.Antioxidant role of CoQ10 in the body Apart from being a cofactor in the mitochondrial electron transport chain, CoQ10 in its reduced form (ubiquinol or CoQ10 H2) serves as an important antioxidant in both mitochondria and lipid membranes, where it protects our cells in their battle against the destructive effects of free radicals. In human LDL it affords protection against the oxidative modifications of LDL themselves, thus lowering their atherogenic potency [9]. CoQ10 is essential in vitamin E regeneration. Ubiquinol inhibits protein and lipid oxidation in cell membranes, and helps to minimize oxidative injury to DNA[10]. CoQ10 is an integral part of the respiratory chain and thereby located exactly where the free radicals are generated, in the mitochondria. These endogeneously produced free radicals are considered as an import factor of the aging process [1