Coenzyme Q10

One simple trick fights insulin resistance

If you like living on the edge, then you'll just love metabolic syndrome.

It's not a disease by itself. Not yet anyway.

But it's as close as you can come to diabetes, heart disease, and more without actually getting them.

It's the very edge of "health," and most of the people who reach it end up falling off on the wrong side.

Today, I'm going to help make sure you're not one of them. I'm going to bring you down off that ledge on the RIGHT side so you can avoid a shorter, sicker life of chronic disease.

The latest research shows a simple heart-friendly nutrient available in any vitamin shop that can help turn this condition around.

It's coenzyme Q10, a.k.a. CoQ10, a powerful molecule needed by every single cell in your body for energy.

In the new study, 100 mg supplements of CoQ10 improved insulin levels and slashed insulin resistance in folks with metabolic syndrome.

Even better, the supplements also helped improve function of the beta calls, or the part of the pancreas needed to produce that all-important insulin.

Those are the very cells that start to fall apart in diabetics -- but this supplement will help give them the protection they need.

CoQ10 also improved antioxidant levels, especially levels of the "master antioxidant" glutathione needed to fight free radicals, slow aging, and slash your risk of deadly disease.

As a result, folks given the supplements over just eight weeks had less of the damage caused by oxidative stress, according to the study in the European Journal of Nutrition.

The main problem with CoQ10 is getting it, and getting enough of it. As we get older, our levels tend to drop naturally. Making matters worse, statins and other drugs can sap you of whatever you have left -- in some cases leading to a dangerous deficiency.

That's why CoQ10 is on my short list of essential supplements for everyone facing heart risk -- but don't stop there.

The New Year is your chance to clean house, start fresh, and get healthy, especially if you have metabolic syndrome.

Make the switch to the Mediterranean diet. In one major study, this healthy lifestyle CURED the condition completely in half of the folks who tried it.

With a couple of simple tweaks -- like removing or severely limiting grains -- it'll work close to 100 percent of the time.

You know the basics:

• boost your fish and poultry
• eat plenty of fresh produce
• snack on nuts, and
• limit your red meats.

Now, it's time to put that knowledge to work and get started, so you're no longer living on the edge.

I'll have another diet tip that'll help cut your risk of disease and even death coming up later today -- and you're going to love this one.

Keep an eye on your inbox!

Don’t waste your time on multivitamins without CoQ10

If you’re like millions of Americans, you probably rely on the same old blend of vitamins that you’ve used for years, never pausing to take a look at the ingredients.

But even if you’ve switched to the kind that has “for seniors!” or “for active adults!” written on the package, it still may not contain all of the nutrients you need…especially if you’re choosing whichever one is cheapest at your local superstore.

Because now, new research shows how you could be paying the ultimate price when you’re penny-pinching with a bargain brand.

In the study, patients were given either a high-dose multi with minerals or a lower-dose multi with minerals plus coenzyme Q10. Patients in a third group were given a placebo.

The difference was so big that the researchers noticed an improvement in the CoQ10 group after a single dose. Folks who got the lower-dose multi with CoQ10 had MORE blood rushing to the brain; and without that CoQ10, the higher doses didn’t make a difference.

There was an even bigger change after eight weeks of taking the supplements.

These findings are in line with other studies, which have shown consistently that CoQ10 improves the function of the endothelium – or the lining of the blood vessels that plays a key role in blood flow and is critical to heart and brain health.

This study shows why I’ve been urging my own patients to make sure they take CoQ10 – because when you don’t have it, the rest of the vitamins and minerals that you’re taking in can’t do their job.

You could have all the vitamins you need flowing through your body. But if they can’t reach your brain, they can’t get to work protecting your mood, memory and more – and as the study in Nutrition & Metabolism so clearly shows, they need that CoQ10 to really reach your brain and get to work.

The study used a specific brand of multivitamin called Supradyn, which is made by Bayer, but I wouldn’t recommend that one as it also contains fluoride, a powerful neurotoxin that can rot your brain instead of protecting it.

Instead, choose another quality multi with all your essentials – including minerals such as magnesium, zinc, and selenium – PLUS that all-important CoQ10. Many people skip it because multis that contain it cost a little more – but this is one corner you shouldn’t cut.

As always, stick to a quality blend from a maker you trust, and pay a little extra for a multi with CoQ10 or buy a separate CoQ10 supplement – because if you’re missing even one piece of the nutrition puzzle, the whole thing can fall apart.

And for more on how a simple, humble daily multivitamin can protect your health, read this free report from my House Calls archives.