How Much CoQ10 You Should Take Every Day
CoQ10 is an antioxidant naturally occurring in the body. As we age, our levels of CoQ10 decline, leaving us susceptible to troublesome ailments that coincide with slow mitochondrial function. If you feel a little in the dark about what your mitochondria actually do, how CoQ10 plays a part, and what your CoQ10 daily dosage should be, we’ve got you covered. We have your complete guide to all things CoQ10.
What is CoQ10 and Why Do I Need It?
CoQ10, as aforementioned, is a naturally occurring antioxidant produced by the mitochondria inside our cells. The mitochondria are one of several organelles that function inside our cells to keep them healthy and functioning. Mitochondria, in particular, are of extreme importance to our cellular health, as they are basically the little engines that run our cells, which run our organs, which run our bodies.
Mitochondria have double membrane walls that protect them so they can perform their cell-energizing functions without disruption. When mitochondria function properly, their function gives off a byproduct called a free radical. A free radical is damaging to the mitochondrial wall, so the mitochondria also produce Coenzyme Q-10 (CoQ10) which protects the wall from free radical damage. If CoQ10 isn’t produced, or isn’t produced efficiently, free radicals can damage the double membrane walls and interfere with mitochondrial function, which results in some gnarly health issues which we will discuss later.
We need CoQ10 to help protect those mitochondrial membranes. The problem is, as we get older, our mitochondria begin to slow the process of CoQ10 production. It’s completely normal, and a simple side effect of aging, but the results produce health issues that can make us feel and look older.
What are the Side Effects of Low CoQ10?
You could be suffering from low CoQ10 without even knowing it. It’s often misdiagnosed as something else. Some of the most common side effects of low CoQ10 or declining mitochondrial health are:
- Feelings of fatigue, tiredness, and lethargy, even when getting a full night of rest.
- Fuzzy or foggy mental state; not being able to think clearly or not feeling as sharp as you once did.
- Prematurely aging skin (this is due to free radical damage in the skin cells).
- Sleep issues (can’t fall asleep or have trouble staying asleep).
- Circulatory system issues.
- Weight gain and/or blood sugar issues.
- Decreased athletic performance.
- Moodiness, depression, or anxiety.
While decreased mitochondrial health is a part of aging, you don’t have to accept it at face value. Taking a high quality, scientifically backed CoQ10 supplement can help you diminish and even eliminate some of the side effects produced by poor mitochondrial health, and regain mitochondrial function you’ve lost.
How Much CoQ10 Should I Take?
The amount of CoQ10 you should take depends highly on the specific supplement you choose. Not all CoQ10 supplements are created equally. In fact, you should know that most CoQ10 supplements cannot be properly absorbed by your cells. This is because of that pesky (yet so very important) double membrane surrounding the mitochondria.
Because the membrane is so protective, most commercially produced CoQ10 supplements have trouble breaking through the wall and getting their vital ingredients to the mitochondria. As such, you are likely to find supplements that recommend daily doses of CoQ10 somewhere between 500 and 1200 milligrams per day. That’s a lot of CoQ10-more than your body will ever need, but also more than it is ever going to absorb.
Fortunately, you don’t need to waste money on CoQ10 that your body will simply never absorb. You can opt, instead, for a CoQ10 supplement that is smarter and more effectively absorbed by your body. Through scientific research, biochemists were able to identify mitochondria as mostly negatively charged organelles. The solution, they hypothesized, was to create a CoQ10 supplement that had a positively charged particle attached to it, so that it could easily penetrate the negatively charged membranes of the mitochondria and thus be better absorbed.
Thus, the invention of a better, highly absorbable CoQ10 supplement was born. If you take a smart CoQ10 supplement, you will need no more than 10 milligrams of it per day, because absolutely all of it is readily available and easily absorbed by your cells. This means less medication, and no money wasted on products that simply don’t work and leave you feeling frustrated.
CoQ10 is a naturally occurring antioxidant produced by the mitochondria in our cells. As we age, the mitochondria produce less CoQ10, and we should invest in a quality CoQ10 supplement to support our mitochondrial health. Some CoQ10 supplements recommend taking daily doses as high as 1200 milligrams, because the supplement is ineffective in penetrating the double membrane wall. A smart CoQ10 supplement is able to penetrate the double membrane because it contains a positively charged ion that easily breaks through the negatively charged membrane and delivers the powerful antioxidant supplement to the mitochondria for immediate use.