COQ10 & Statins
ALL Statin Drugs Reduce or Eliminate Natural CoEnzyme Q10 Synthesis Supplementation is a Necessity to Avoid Heart Disease
Statin drugs have become very popular and are being widely prescribed in recent years to lower high blood cholesterol and thus reduce the risk for heart disease. These drugs block cholesterol production in the body by inhibiting the enzyme called HMG-CoA reductase in the early steps of its synthesis in the mevalonate pathway. This same biosynthetic pathway is also shared by CoQ10. Therefore, one unfortunate consequence of statin drugs is the unintentional inhibition of CoQ10 synthesis. Thus, in the long run, statin drugs could predispose the patients to heart disease by lowering their CoQ10 status, the very condition that these drugs are intended to prevent.
Dr. Emile Bliznakov, an authority on CoQ10, recently published a scholarly review on the interaction between statin drugs and CoQ10 (Bliznakov and Wilkins, 1998). He wrote the best-selling book “”The Miracle Nutrient Coenzyme Q10″” several years ago and it is still being hailed as the best reference book on CoQ10 (Bliznakov, 1987).
The reduction of CoQ10 levels might be associated with myopathy, a rare adverse effect associated with statin drugs. This metabolic myopathy is related to ubiquinone (CoQ10) deficiency in muscle cell mitochondria, disturbing normal cellular respiration and causing adverse effects such as rhabdomyolysis, exercise intolerance, and recurrent myoglobinuria. (DiMuro S., Exercise intolerance and the mitochondrial respiratory chain. Ital J Neurol Sci. Dec. 1999;20(6):387-393).
It is important to note that Coenzyme Q10 supplementation does not interfere with the very important cholesterol-lowering effect of statin drugs such as Lipitor
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