CoQ10 benefits and experiences?

Joseph Jones85 said:1. Most doctors at our medical schools barely touch on nutrition, maybe one elective course at most if you're lucky. When it comes to vitamins, their knowledge is basically zero. Anyone who actually knows what they're talking about gets lumped into the "alternative medicine" crowd immediately. So, it’s hardly a shock that nobody warned him that vitamins could be harmful—most of them don't even realize vitamins are necessary, let alone that they can be toxic in certain doses.

2. Because of pollution, oxidative processes happen faster and more uncontrollably within our cells.

1. Yeah, true, but even top-tier doctors globally aren't any better. This specific case didn't even happen here in the States... I'm not pointing fingers at local doctors specifically. It's just that people broadly know nothing about vitamins, and whatever little info they do have comes from TV commercials. That’s exactly why I bother writing stuff here...

2. I don't follow. Where's the proof?
Didn't we already establish that oxidation is caused by oxygen? What does urban smog have to do with oxidation? (I mean, it affects everything else, but specifically oxidation?)

It’s interesting to note that in my immediate circle, I know of three different people who have dealt with elevated bilirubin levels or other indicators of liver dysfunction. All of them were consuming large amounts of Kraft—multiple servings a day...🙄

Coincidence? 😕

Kenneth Hernandez67 said:I learned the hard way that you absolutely cannot maintain a healthy balance in your body EXCLUSIVELY through supplements. If there’s a deficiency somewhere, you HAVE to address it from a different angle. Sure, a vitamin pill might give you a temporary fix, but you really need to find the root cause and change your habits. If you don't, eventually your body is just going to view those expensive, high-quality supplements 😉 as nothing more than excess waste and flush them right out of your system.

For me personally, this was exactly what happened with iron. Until I actually figured out why I was anemic, nothing worked. Every supplement I tried would help for maybe a month or two, and then—bam—it would end in nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and my blood work looking even worse than before.

This is spot on. Most of the time, a vitamin or mineral deficiency isn't caused by not eating enough of it; it's because your body can't actually absorb it. Iron is the classic example of that.

Exactly. You can't expect supplements to do all the heavy lifting if you haven't "prepared the ground" first.

But here's the kicker: even when everything else is fine, we still aren't getting nearly enough. Sometimes it's one specific thing, but often it's a lack of almost all essential vitamins and minerals simply because the food available to us today doesn't have the nutrient density it used to.

Fruits and veggies just aren't what they used to be... 😢

Kenneth Hernandez67 said:It’s pretty wild, but in my neck of the woods, I know three different people who ended up with elevated bilirubin levels—basically all signs pointing to liver issues—and every single one of them was slamming Kraft powder several times a day...🙄

Coincidence? I think not. 😕

Hardly.

Look, Kraft tastes great, sure, but let’s call it what it is: total garbage. Consuming more than a single serving a day is highly questionable... and I'm getting this from someone who actually tested it out firsthand. Of course, you won't see a "top-tier" product like this ever admitting it's junk in public.

And don't get me started on the nutrition. Kraft isn't some actual vitamin supplement because the amount of vitamins they throw in there is a complete joke. But on the flip side? All those other filler ingredients make it an incredibly unhealthy mess.

You seriously believe everything you see in those commercials?

Every salesman thinks his horse is the fastest... 😉

darkbison81 said:2. I don't get it. Where's the proof?
Haven't we already established that oxidation is caused by oxygen? So what does urban smog have to do with oxidation? (I mean, it affects everything else, but specifically oxidation?)

What part of this is confusing you?

Yeah, oxidation IS caused by oxygen. That's just how it works—it's the process where cells release the energy they need to actually function.

The problem is that city air has oxygen, sure, but it's also packed with all kinds of junk that turns that cellular oxidation process into something absolutely lethal for the cell.

An "antioxidant" isn't some magic element that stops oxidation entirely (despite the "smart" sounding name)... it's an element that manages the process so it doesn't end up destroying the cell.

What part am I not getting? This:

Joseph Jones85 said:Urban smog contains oxygen, sure, but it’s also packed with other junk that makes cellular oxidation a death sentence for the cell.
Is that clear enough for you now?

Not really. Where is the explanation for this claim (for the second time)?
Which specific substances are you referring to? What are their concentrations? What are their intracellular concentrations? And what exactly is the mechanism by which these substances interfere with oxygen oxidation?
This is what I asked...

Oxidation is always detrimental to a cell, yet it's absolutely necessary for aerobes. I'm looking for specific answers to the questions I laid out above.

By the way, I'm not even going to bother debating antioxidants, because they don't exist. There are only oxidants and reductants.🙂
And by the way, I didn't ask a single thing about reductants, thanks much.🙂

Joseph Jones85 said:Are you actually buying what those commercials are selling?

Every man thinks his own horse is the fastest in the stable... 😉

I don't. I don't drink it, I don't buy it, and I make Junior lemonade instead.

When it comes to vitamins or any supplements, I just follow common sense... basically, the more you cram down your throat, the less they actually work. It’s the exact same deal with antibiotics, painkillers, or sedatives.

Totally sound logic. Way more "yes" than "no" here. I'm definitely on board with this principle.

Joseph Jones85, look at those RDA numbers. But did you actually check the levels in actual fruit and veggies? Let's break it down: if you add up all the nutrients from eating tons of produce—assuming it's actually high-quality stuff—you still end up way below the RDA. Even with what we call a "healthy diet" (loaded with vitamins, fiber, whatever), it technically falls short of the RDA. And honestly? That's just not right.

But even if we pretend the RDA is some holy law we have to follow at all costs... just look at these supplement bottles. Seriously, look at the dosages. They're like 3 to 20 times higher than anything we could ever get from a "perfectly balanced" healthy diet. Once you train your body to expect those massive amounts, it doesn't even process them properly anymore. We're talking about pharmacologically active substances that mess with your body's entire equilibrium. The end result ends up being the exact opposite of what you were aiming for.

And let me tell you something else. Nobody's dying today because they're low on vitamins—I mean, we aren't living in Columbus's era—but plenty of people *are* dying from vitamin toxicity.

Bottom line? One multivitamin a week is more than enough if you're actually eating RIGHT. If your diet is garbage, don't bother masking it with pills; just fix what you're eating, because vitamins are a double-edged sword just like everything else. Even then, I wouldn't touch more than 2 or 3 multivitamins a week.

At the end of the day, vitamins should only be used when there's an actual deficiency or during crazy periods of intense stress. Anything beyond that is pretty much just harmful.

As for Coca-Cola—it’s honestly pretty gross, and I don't see it ever getting better. I really don't get people who drink it; I’d actually prefer a soda that's watered down. And even then, I wouldn't touch it.

Regarding oxidation—those anti-aging creams that claim to be infused with oxygen are the absolute worst. I seriously can't tell if the beauty industry thinks we're all just complete idiots or if they're just trying to mess with our heads...😁

So, I was wondering if anyone here has tried ginseng or ginkgo biloba supplements? What are they actually good for, and how do they work? I heard they might help with focus and making studying a bit easier.

I'm not really big on vitamins, mostly because I'm just too lazy to stay on top of a regular pill schedule... I have a few different bottles sitting in my cabinet, but I only take them every once in a while.

When I feel like I'm coming down with a cold, I'll take a massive dose of that cheap Vitamin C from Pfizer... maybe around 3 grams. I also heard some old wives' tales about huge amounts of ascorbic acid causing miscarriages—something like 8-12g a day for five days straight, usually mixed with other herbs.
Same goes for when I feel a bug coming on; I'll take 20 drops of Ehinacee tincture and a few drops of royal jelly (you know, that stuff from bees). Honestly, I haven't been sick in ages, so I think this combo actually works quite well.

I also take Nutrival every now and then; it's a hair formula with trace elements, B-complex, and some amino acids. It really helped when my hair was thinning, and it still helps since my hair and nails are naturally pretty weak.

I think I probably need to start taking some Calcium since I basically never eat dairy—no milk, no yogurt, and hardly any cheese. I know osteoporosis is primarily prevented through exercise, since that mechanical stress helps rebuild bone density, but still... Does anyone have a recommendation for a good supplement?

My diet is pretty terrible, to be honest—mostly just eating at college dining halls, where I doubt any vitamins or nutrients survive all that overcooking. Plus, I'm one of those people who isn't a fan of fruit. I can handle vegetables, but fruit... not so much.

Bradley Fisher20 said:Joseph Jones85, have you actually looked at the RDA levels? Did you check the levels found in fruits and vegetables? To sum it up, when you total everything up—assuming you eat plenty of produce that’s been processed with decent quality—it still turns out the doses are below the RDA. Even if we consider a diet that we call "healthy" (packed with vitamins, fiber, etc.), it ends up being insufficient according to the RDA. And that just isn't right.

Look, even if we pretend the RDA is some kind of holy law, which we can just ignore for a second... just look at all those supplements out there. All those vitamin pills. Look at the dosages. It turns out those doses are, say, 3 to 20 times higher than what we could ever possibly get from a healthy diet that we consider an "optimum." Once you train your body to deal with quantities that are way above the RDA, your system doesn't even absorb much of it anymore. Because we're talking about pharmacologically active substances here that shift the dynamic balance within the body. And the end result is the exact opposite of what was intended.

The RDA amounts are minimum doses required for the normal functioning of a healthy organism under ideal conditions.

Now, let me repeat what I said earlier: fruit and vegetables grown under perfect conditions (meaning, no chemicals, clean air, stuff like that) that are picked immediately and aren't chemically, thermally, or mechanically processed, contain the vitamin levels cited in most places. However, I'll give you an example using Vitamin C: Vitamin C is incredibly unstable and sensitive to oxygen, light, heat and even contact with metal. The conclusion is simple: an orange that sat on a grocery shelf for a few days, then got peeled and sliced with a metal knife, simply cannot hold anywhere near the Vitamin C levels it had the moment it was picked. What’s left is just inactive ascorbic acid or, quite frankly, just acid.

I'm not claiming we shouldn't eat healthy food that's prepared properly, and I'm not saying there aren't vitamins and minerals in it, but my point is that the fruits and veggies we buy at the local farmer's market or the supermarket don't have nearly the amount of vitamins that someone calculated ages ago (which everyone just keeps copying). Especially when that same produce gets mechanically processed (like in a fruit salad) or, even worse, when it's roasted, boiled, and so on. This stuff has been proven over and over again; it's nothing new.

Kudos to everyone trying to live healthy and prepare their food the right way, but honestly, the foods most of us have access to are becoming lower and lower in quality (even if they look prettier and prettier on the shelf)... and no matter how hard you try, you're basically starting with compromised ingredients.

And besides that, we live nowhere near "ideal" conditions, especially those of us living in the city.

So, when you take all that into account: the vitamin amounts recommended by the RDA are simply too low in today's world (that number hasn't changed in decades, while the atmosphere and food quality have plummeted), and at best, we're only getting the bare minimum from our food.

I read a lot of studies back in the day on individual vitamins, and the only undesirable side effects described were from overdosing on the "fat-soluble" ones (A, D, E, K). But since those vitamins can be stored in the body, the amounts needed to see initial symptoms are actually massive. For instance, to overdose on Vitamin A just by eating carrots, you'd have to eat 3kg of carrots every single day for 3 months (specifically, over 50,000 IU daily for 3 months)!! And even if that happened, the symptoms vanish within a couple of days after you stop taking them. As for Vitamin C, the only issue is that it's an acid—excessive amounts can irritate the stomach lining. But modern manufacturers (and I'm not talking about Pfizer here) make substances that release slowly into the body so there's no chance of a problem. Personally, I have an incredibly sensitive stomach and gut, but I can swallow a KAL calcium pill or 2 grams of Vitamin C without any issues (whereas with 500mg from Pfizer, I actually get pains).

Look, bottom line is you can't just paint everyone with the same brush. You have to actually look at the bigger picture and consider a whole lot more factors than just one thing...

khm. RDA stands for Recommended Dietary Allowance. So, we aren't talking about absolute minimums here.

Regarding Vitamin C stability, I honestly don't think it's that unstable. Its active forms work in both oxidized and reduced states. It’s basically a stable redox system. As for food processing tech, I don't have the hard numbers right in front of me, but the data definitely isn't as catastrophic as what you're implying...

So, when you weigh everything up: the vitamin amounts recommended by the RDA are just way too low for today's standards—this number hasn't moved in decades, even though the atmosphere and food quality have tanked big time—and at best, we're only getting the bare essentials from our diet.

The RDA is the total recommended intake; it doesn't change based on how you choose to eat.

Basically, don't overgeneralize. You gotta look at more factors than just that...

Generalizing is exactly what Kenneth Hernandez67 is doing with those principles—principles that might be fine on paper, sure. But let's face it: nowadays, even if people are functioning slightly below some theoretical "vitamin optimum," they're still absolutely crushing it. Seriously, if you look at the actual facts, modern diets are actually way more balanced than what people were eating 500 years ago. And just like 500 years ago, people today are holding up just fine... MOST of them, anyway.

Same goes for this—if you train your body to expect massive concentrations of vitamins, like doses that are 10x higher than normal, then once you stop taking them, you hit this imbalance. Add some stress to that, and it can actually be way more damaging and dangerous than if you hadn't done it in the first place. You can literally get "hooked" on vitamins. And it’s totally unnecessary. Honestly, it's bad news because you're usually dealing with amounts way above the optimum, and in my book, the real optimum is a regular healthy diet --->> doses even below the RDA.

One last time: only take vitamins during acute issues, high-stress periods, or if you've got an actual deficiency. If you're using supplements as a daily replacement for food, check your dosages and don't go overboard. The RDA is already plenty, and frankly, most people are going way, way past it.

Hey, Casey Palmer5...
If you're looking to boost your hair, nails, and skin, I really swear by ground flaxseeds or flaxseed oil—even wheat germ helps too.
Of course, I’m no expert, just sharing some friendly, harmless advice that's actually worked great for me personally.🙂

Man, you guys are really going at it today. 😉

I don't really have the bandwidth to get into a massive debate right now, so I’ll just throw this out there—(Lucu, since I see you're already rocking the 😉 vibe, but everyone else is welcome too, of course 🙂)—about these creams packed with Q10. They all market themselves as proven ways to fight wrinkles.

I remember reading somewhere in a health magazine that once those lines actually set in, they aren't really "fixable" or something you can just wipe away. Like, you can tighten things up with a facelift, sure, but creams are basically just there to stop them from getting deeper. Meanwhile, the whole beauty industry keeps hitting us over the head with Q10 like it's some kind of magic fountain of youth. 😕

Honestly, I'm not really sure what to make of it all.

I’ve been using this body lotion with Q10, and honestly, I’m obsessed...

Regarding creams:
...first it was all about Vitamin E, then collagen, then everyone went crazy for liposomes... After that came AHA, then Vitamin C, followed by some 155 different types of antioxidants, placenta extract, and God knows what other nonsense... Now the big things are Coenzyme Q10 and alpha flavonoids... I wonder what the next fad will be in a few years...

...but let's be real, nobody's actually going to have fewer wrinkles😁 from using those creams

Princess said:Man, you guys really went at it with this thread. 😉

I don’t want to get dragged into a massive debate right now because I’m short on time, but I did want to ask (darkbison81, since I see you're lurking 😉 though everyone else is more than welcome to chime in, of course 🙂 ) about creams containing Q10. They market all of them as proven solutions for fighting wrinkles.

I remember reading somewhere in a mainstream health magazine that once a wrinkle actually forms, there's no "curing" it or making it disappear. You can tighten the skin with a facelift, sure, but creams are basically just there to stop things from getting deeper. On the other hand, the beauty industry keeps bombarding us with this Q10 stuff like it's some kind of magic fountain of youth. 😕

I honestly don't know what to make of it all.

You know, 😉 the answer is actually right there in your own post.

The "clinical tests" used to prove how effective skincare products are are such a joke that all I can do is laugh at the ads ("65% fewer wrinkles, 43.5% more elasticity, 78% more hydration" 😁 😁 😁 ). Anyone who has ever conducted a real experiment or actual research knows those numbers are nothing more than a punchline. 😉

I have a quick question for anyone who might know. We’ve been talking about how Vitamin C breaks down so easily, but I was looking at some nutritional charts and noticed potatoes actually pack quite a bit of it. It says they're good even when cooked, not just raw. Does that hold true for fried potatoes too? Is there any truth to that?
One more thing—my sister has been struggling with iron levels for a while now, and her nails are constantly splitting. She basically eats everything except fruit. We figured out that might be the culprit; since she started making an effort to eat more fruit, her iron levels have finally stabilized. Could that be why her nails are acting up?

From what I gather, those nutritional charts—assuming they’re official, like something issued by the American Diabetes Association or a similar body—are generally pretty reliable since they're based on actual experimental data. That said, I have my doubts about how much Vitamin C actually survives any kind of thermal processing. VitC is notoriously finicky; once you hit it with heat or even just expose it to air, it starts oxidizing and breaking down fast.
I'm also not entirely sure if iron deficiency actually manifests in your nails. Besides, as far as I know, most fruit isn't exactly a powerhouse when it comes to iron content...

Here’s the link:
http://food.com/veggies/potato.htm

I was actually pretty surprised when I saw a pregnancy book listing potatoes as a source of Vitamin C, so I decided to dig through some nutritional charts myself.
When it comes to my sister's situation with fruit, I try to explain that the nutrients our bodies need definitely interact with one another—it's just hard to put into words. For instance, we all know iron absorbs better when you have Vitamin C, but who knows what other synergies science hasn't fully mapped out yet?
In my opinion, a diverse diet is still the best way to get the right balance of doses and nutrient interactions. Plus, cooking doesn't necessarily destroy everything; maybe absorption isn't even hit that hard.

darkbison81 said:I still lean toward the idea that a varied diet provides the best results when it comes to dosage, synergy, and overall efficacy. Cooking doesn't just wipe everything out. It might not even necessarily boost absorption, but it's certainly not a total loss.

I'm with you on that. I feel like I've been rambling for two pages just trying to get this point across.😉

You can't actually destroy everything—that's basically just the law of conservation of mass and energy 😁—it's just that certain substances can be broken down in significant amounts. Honestly, I don't have any hard data on the exact amount of vitc left in a baked potato...