CO-ENZYME Q10: Questions Needing Answers

Recently, cosmetics, foods and functional foods with added co-Q10 have been receiving much hype. The demand for these products is rising so fast that in the autumn of 2005, Japanese producer Kaneka who has been extracting co-Q10 from yeast in bioreactors since 1977, sounded the alarm about fake products. Not surprising, given that market scarcity tends to attract ingredient counterfeiters.

A Japanese health-food report from the Yano Research Institute underscores this rapid market expansion. The company says sales for co-Q10 doubled between 2003 and 2004—from $67 million to $120 million. Japanese-American analyst Paul Yamaguchi estimated that the market grew to a further to $250 million in 2005.

Stimulus The main driver for growth comes from the innovative Japanese food industry, which has been adding co-Q10 to desserts, dairy, beverages and even to exclusive pet food since the start of the 21st century. “In Japan, food supplements are still the main products with co-Q10,” says Sakae Tanaka of Kaneka. “The functional foods are not really popular yet. But in Japan, co-Q10-containing chocolate, bread, candy, and drinks are already on market.” That isn’t to say that co-Q10 can’t succeed—it is already part of our daily diet, with meat and poultry as the main sources. Danish researchers estimate current daily intake is about five milligrams per day or less. (Supplements usually provide several tens to a few hundred milligrams.) Restrictions The US and Japan are the main markets for co-Q10. Between them, they account for approximately 80 percent of the market. Meanwhile, the EU drags along behind the two leaders. Within Europe, Euromonitor says Norway is the largest submarket, followed by Russia, the Netherlands and Denmark. Research analyst Kaye Cheung of Frost & Sullivan believes that it is legislation that causes Europe to lag behind. “Laws such as the EU Novel Foods Directive may impose restraints on the functional-foods market,” says Cheung. “There is great potential for the use of Q10 ingredients if they have EU approval.”

In a country like France, co-Q10 has even been banned altogether, not because the French authorities think it is a dangerous product, but because French scientists do not believe in the added value of extra co-Q10 to the consumer. Heart health The main driver of the co-Q10 market is the heart-health supplement market, according to Cheung. “Studies have shown that co-Q10 is present in heart tissues, and deficiency in this substance is associated with an increased risk of heart disease. A number of nutrition-oriented doctors suggest coenzyme Q10 for heart patients.” One of these nutrition-oriented doctors is British physician Dr John Moran of the Holistic Medical Clinic in London. “If people do have to go on to a statin [a cholesterol-lowering drug], they really ought to take co-Q10. Statins tend to break down the coenzyme naturally present in the body,” explains Moran. “There are plenty of studies which have shown this to be the case.” In the UK alone, almost two million people use statins. On a global scale the number has risen to several hundred million. Statins reduce the chance of a heart attack by inhibiting the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase that allows the liver to produce cholesterol. Preventing production of the enzyme lowers cholesterol levels, but also reduces co-Q10 in the body. So there is an ongoing discussion whether this reduction is hazardous to one’s health. Preliminary evidence For almost all applications of co-Q10, it can be said that this vitamin like compound is ‘strong in the lab’. Rats subjected to extreme physical exercise experience less molecular damage if they have consumed extra co-Q10. In test tubes, the substance protects cells against aggressive molecules. The role of co-Q10 in the energy production of the cell has inspired makers of a wide range of ‘vitalizing products’ since the 1970s. In 1974, the Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai launched it as a medicine for heart patients; and in 1984, American companies started marketing co-Q10 as a food supplement. In most cases the coenzyme came—and still comes—from Japan. This may change, however, as Japanese companies such as Kaneka are in the process of setting up production plants in countries like the US. Inconclusive results The first co-Q10 supplements were intended primarily for athletes who wanted to improve their performance. Studies in the 1990s were not able to identify any strong positive effects on athletes; results only demonstrated some mild effects at the level of cell-membrane integrity and lipid oxidation. In one study, endurance athletes taking co-Q10 even performed slightly worse than the athletes in the placebo group. So scientists have not yet addressed the all-important question: Is co-Q10 useful for the average consumer? Instead, the research focus has been on its potential disease-fighting abilities against ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, sometimes called Lou Gehrig's disease, a condition of progressive paralysis), Duchenne’s disease (a muscle-wasting condition) and breast cancer. The—mostly small— studies published so far are inconclusive. Sometimes they report hopeful results, sometimes they do not. At the moment, there are half a dozen trials ongoing that should provide a clearer picture. It will probably take several years before studies have proved whether or not extra co-Q10 provides health benefits for healthy people. Forever young? The lack of clarity has not prevented a growing group of consumers from embracing products with co-Q10. The average consumer is found mainly amongst well-educated baby boomers, who are receptive to the claim that co-Q10 ‘rejuvenates’ or ‘counteracts the effects of aging’. This anti-aging claim does not come as a complete surprise, according to Professor Frederick Crane, the American biochemist who discovered co-Q10 in cow tissues in 1956. “Not only diseases, but also aging causes the amount of co-Q10 in tissues to decline,” Crane reports. The biochemist has been taking supplements for several years now and considers the product safe. “Even in dosages of 1200 milligrams per day, no side-effects have been observed,” he claims. Crane doubts, however, if young people will benefit from this miracle substance in any way. “If you are a healthy young person, you are probably making all the co-Q10 that you need by yourself.” Physicians about Q10 According to medical reviewers, there are preliminary indications that suggest that co-Q10 may slow down Parkinson’s disease; but well-designed, long-term studies are needed to support this claim. Trials on humans with type-2 diabetes were not successful. Tobacco sources In the Chinese city of Xi’an, the government no longer incinerates clandestine shipments of tobacco seized by the police. Instead, chemical companies extract the precious coenzyme Q10 from the illegal goods, and sell it to the ingredients industry. Since the price of co-Q10 is high—one kilogram can fetch as much as $5,000—this is a lucrative source of income. Not surprisingly, this possibility of extracting co-Q10 from tobacco has aroused the interest of American farmers. The University of Maryland is now investigating whether large-scale extraction of co-Q10 is feasible, hoping to offer an alternative manufacturing process to the languishing tobacco sector.

What is Coenzyme-Q10? Co-Q10 is a fatty substance that reportedly plays a key role in the mitochondria—the power plants of the cell, where nutrients react with oxygen and thus generate energy. In this process, oxygen supplies electrons to enzymes, with co-Q10 playing the role of ‘middleman’—which explains the term ‘coenzyme’. At the same time, co-Q10 reportedly ensures that the cell walls are not damaged by the electric charges jumping around. Thus, too little co-Q10 means less energy production by the cells and more damage to the cell. Thanks to its long tail of ten isoprenoids (a major class of lipids that occur in plants, animals, and bacteria)—hence the ‘10’ in co-Q10—the molecule penetrates the membranes of cells. Attached to this tail is a ring of six carbon atoms, which can intercept electric charges and pass them on.