The supplement Coenzyme Q10, often called CoQ10, occurs in foods such as liver and organ meats, notes registered nutritionist Gale Maleskey, author of "Nature's Medicine: The Definitive Guide to Health Supplements." Your body stores this supplement until the age of 30. A deficiency of Coenzyme Q10 may cause you to suffer from heart disease. Vitamin E helps prevent heart disease and cancer. It occurs naturally in foods such as spinach, almonds, margarine, soybean oil, sunflower oil and seeds, wheat-germ oil and wheat germ. Before starting any new supplements, talk to your doctor. You should discuss any information regarding dosage and types of supplements with your primary doctor and herbalist specialist.
Coenzyme Q10 Dosage
The University of Maryland Medical Center indicates the normal dosage for adults 19 years and older is 200 mg daily. You should take this supplement with a fatty meal such as salmon or with a teaspoon of peanut butter. The fat helps your body absorb this supplement.
Coenzyme Q10 Warnings
You should take this supplement under the guidance of your physician, the University of Maryland Medical Center recommends. Potential side effects may occur. Other safety concerns also exist, so your practitioner can help you decide whether to take CoQ10 and how to take it. Do not take this supplement if you're pregnant or breastfeeding.
Interactions of Medications
Coenzyme Q10 helps decrease toxic affects from chemotherapy agents called daunorubicin and doxorubicin, which treat many types of cancer. Before taking CoQ10, talk to your oncologist and get her opinion. Coenzyme Q10 may lower your blood pressure and increase the effect of your blood pressure medications. Blood pressure medication includes diltiazem, nitroglycerin, enalpril and metoprolol.
Vitamin E Dosage
The recommended dose for vitamin E is 100 to 400 international units daily. If you have a chronic illness, doctors recommend the 400 IU dose. The dose of vitamin E varies with the disease process it treats, Maleskey relates.
Health Warnings
You may run the risk of having a hemorrhagic stroke when using vitamin E, Maleskey reports. This kind of a stroke occurs because of a broken blood vessel or bleeding in the brain. Vitamin E interferes with platelet clotting that can cause a stroke to occur. Do not take this vitamin supplement without the advice of your physician. It also will interfere with blood thinners such as warfarin, Drugs.com reports.
References
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Coenzyme Q10
- Drugs.com: Vitamin E
- "Nature's Medicine: The Definitive Guide to Health Supplements"; Gale Maleskey, et al.; 1999
Member Comments