Healthy Andy

There’s a lot of info on this site about the powerful antioxidant CoQ10, but I’ve gotten some questions concerning CoQ10 side effects and if there’s anything to worry about.  The short answer is, not really.  But let me go into detail for you.

As a quick reminder, Co Q10 is a vital substance created by the body and supplemented by the diet that is used in energy metabolism and as anitoxidant protection, particularly in the energy generators of the cells (called the mitochondria).  It’s especially important for those taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs (which deplete the body of CoQ10- more on this topic in this article on CoQ10 and statins), but is also taken by athletes, for anti-aging purposes, and for overall health.  Some other promising areas of CoQ10 use are in cancer (to reduce the side effects of chemotherapy) and to reduce the symptoms of heart failure.

CoQ10 Side Effects

Okay, that’s all great, but can it hurt you?  Again, the short answer is no.  This is a substance that is created by the body, so in and of inself, it is obviously non-toxic.  At typical doses (30 to 200 mg/day), side effects are very rare.  There’s some report of insomnia for those taking over 100 mg/day, but I’ve never seen it or even heard any such report from any other practictioner using CoQ10.  In other words, really rare… so rare that I wonder if there isn’t a confounding variable involved other than CoQ10 on these reports.

There’s unclear evidence concerning increased liver enzymes with very high (300+ mg/day) doses of CoQ10.  Not full-blown liver disease, just elevated liver enzymes.  Again, the evidence on this is so weak and contradictory that I strongly discount it.

What is uncommon, but occasionally reported are mild complaints like heartburn and nausea, which are most likely attributable to the quality of the product itself.  If you buy junk CoQ10 from a manufacturer with poor quality control, you may get a product that has impurities in it as a result of those poor manufacturing guidelines.  Look for reputable manufacturers who adhere to GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) guidelines, and remember that you get what you pay for.

The only real side effects of CoQ10 that I think you need to worry about are those in which Co Q10 reacts or interferes with a medication you may be taking.  The big ones to pay attention to here are Warfarin (Coumadin) and insulin.  Specifically, CoQ10 may reduce the effects of Coumadin (a blood thinner), and reduce the need for insulin by diabetics.

Notice that the second of those two “side effects” is actually a benefit!  But, if taking CoQ10 does improve your diabetic symptoms, then your current level of medication may actually end up being more than you now require, so if you are diabetic and you begin taking CoQ10, just be sure to keep your doctor aware of this and monitor your blood sugar levels in case you need to adjust your insulin dosage.  Again, I call this a good thing, because the less medication you need to take, the better!

One more side effect that rarely reported is dizziness.  This is probably due to the fact that CoQ10 lowers blood pressure in some people, so if you already have low blood pressure and are looking to start taking CoQ10, I’d start off with a low dosage (30 mg/day) and work your way up after a few weeks at that level just to be on the safe side.

On an overall note about Coq10 side effects, I will tell you from an individual perspective that I have never encountered any of these side effects or even had another practitioner mention any of these side effects from their practice.  In other words, the incidence of any of these effects are extremely rare.  However, it never hurts to be informed.

My recommendation is, make sure you buy a quality product and take it with a fat-containing meal (since CoQ10 is fat soluble), and you’ll avoid any unlikely nausea or heartburn.  If you take one of the medications listed above, be sure to keep your doctor informed that you are going to start taking CoQ10 and that you want to monitor your medication levels if necessary.

More on the benefits of CoQ10 here.

Stay healthy!

Recently, a friend asked me about an email she recieved concerning eating fruit on an empty stomach.  The information she’d been sent informed her that if she didn’t eat her fruit on an empty stomach, horrible things would happen and she would die, die, die.

For some reason, this rumor about eating fruit in this way became associated with Dr. Oz, the medical doctor who became famous on Oprah’s TV show.  I’m not really sure why this is, since Dr. Oz didn’t come up with this, and my bet is, he disagrees with this concept as much as I do.

Eating Fruit On An Empty Stomach- A Myth?

The idea behind this old wives’ tale is, if you eat fruit with other foods, it somehow sits in the stomach and “rots” there, causing all kinds of problems.  On the other hand, if you eat only fruit, well then, it slides through your belly like greased owl poop and directly into your bloodstream, leading to your becoming nearly superhuman in strength due to the vast amount of nutrients in your body.

Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way.  Gastric emptying is the term used for the stomach releasing its contents into the small intestine (where most of the heavy-duty nutrient absorbtion occurs).  The rate of gastric emptying relies on a number of factors, mostly:

• how liquid the stomach contents are
• how nutrient dense the contents are
• how much volume of food is stretching out the stomach

Typically, even a solid meal is emptied out within a few hours, and no, mixing fruit in with other foods does NOT lead to putrefication.  While fruit does tend to break down more quickly all on its own (due to the high water content), if it’s mixed in with other food, it simply stirs into the liquid mix (called chyme).  It’s not chemically altered due to the presence of other foods.

Actually, for some people, mixing fruits with other foods is a good idea.  For example, diabetics or those with insulin resistance will react poorly to the rapid spike of sugar in their bloodstream from the quick digestion of a meal of only fruit, so mixing in some other sorts of foods with a lower glycemic index (that’s a measure of how sugary a food is) will actually slow down how quickly the sugar  is released into the body.

Don’t fall for this silly myth about eating fruit on an empty stomach.  It was made up out of thin air by some wacko trying to sell his “special” diet plan based on only eating certain foods in certain combinations.  There’s no evidence that he was remotely accurate. 

Here are some REAL guidelines on eating fruit:

• First off, actually eat fruit.  This sounds like a self-evident statement, but studies show Americans rarely eat fruit at all.  Fruits are packed with nutrients and antioxidants that keep your body working correctly, slow the aging process, and generally keep you alive.  So for God’s sake, actually eat some!
• Second, eat ACTUAL fruit, not fruit bars, fruit chews, fruit drink, or any other processed fabrication that pretends to be fruit.  Usually, what you get is a glorified piece of plastic painted pretty colors and stuffed full of artifical sweeteners.  In fact, a whisteblower organization recently found that the “fruit” in many cereal boxes was anything BUT actual fruit.
• Finally, drink fruit juice sparingly.  You’re far, far better off eating the entire fruit.  The whole fruit contains fiber, and there’s about a million studies showing that fiber helps keep you alive in many, many ways… too many to discuss here.  When you juice a fruit, you cheat yourself out of the fiber.  Another result of this is an increase in that glycemic index I mentioned earlier… without the fiber to slow the digestion of the fruit down, you end up dumping a lot of sugar into the bloodstream at once.  Read my article about insulin and weight gain to see why you don’t want that.

Keep things simple and natural, and you really can’t go wrong.  Don’t worry about silly little fads or tricks.  Stick to the basics.  A whole foods diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts, eggs, and lean meats will keep you alive and vital in the long term.

Stay healthy!

There’s some really interesting research that recently came out not only on inflammation and obesity, but inflammation and diabetes as well.  Really, the two are closely related because of the influence of the hormone insulin, so this shouldn’t be so surprising, especially if you’ve read my post on insulin and weight gain.

To sum up, consuming a diet high in fat seems to create a problem with inflammation in the hypothalamus, a region of the brain that links the nervous system to the endocrine (hormonal) system through a little nubbin at the base of the brain called the pituatary gland (also called the “master gland”).  This inflammation then impairs the effects of two hormones, insulin and leptin, on signalling the body about fat storage.

Okay, let’s break down what that all means.

Inflammation and Obesity

First off, there’s a chemical on/off switch for inflammation in our body called NF-kB (NF- “kappa” B).  When NF-kB is activated, it’s like in those submarine movies where that klaxen horn begins blaring Ah- WOOO-GA!  Ah-WOOO-GA! and a voice shouts over the loudspeaker “Dive!  Dive!”.

Okay, maybe that’s just my hyperactive imagination.  But seriously, when NF-kB is activated, it tells the body that inflammation is necessary in that area.  We’ve discussed NF-kB in detail before in this post on inflammation and antioxidants.  The key thing to realize for this discussion is, a high-fat diet seems to activate NF-kB in the hypothalamus, leading to inflammation in that area.

This leads to resistance to the hormones insulin and leptin.  Insulin we’ve discussed many times before- it’s the hormone involved with controlling blood sugar.  It’s also the hormone of interest in diabetes and the pre-diabetic state called “metabolic syndrome”, “syndrome x”, or just plain “insulin resistance”. 

Resistance to insulin causes all kinds of health problems, but in this case, we’re mostly interested in the fact that abnormal expression of insulin causes weight gain.  If you’ve heard of low-carb diets, the whole mechanism behind their action is to control the levels of insulin in your body so that you don’t get fat.  Once again… abnormal action of insulin leads to fat gain.  Since an inflamed hypothalamus leads to abnormal action (i.e., resistance)  of insulin, it therefore also leads to fat gain.

Inflammation, Leptin, and Hunger

What about that other hormone, leptin?  What the heck IS that other hormone, leptin?

Leptin is a hormone that controls the sensation of hunger and/or saiety (the feeling of being full).  Again, when inflammation kicks in throughout the hypothalamus, you end up with an abnormal expression of this hormone… in other words, an inflamed brain is always telling you you’re not full yet, no matter how full you actually are.

So not only does an inflamed brain disable the hormonal mechanisms that help burn off fat and sugar (that’s insulin), it also disables the hormonal mechanism that tells you to stop stuffing your pie-hole in the first place!  Is it any wonder how this could lead to weight gain? 

There’s been links between inflammation and obesity before, but this is a much stronger link because the hypothalamus, as I mentioned earlier, pretty much runs the show when it comes to your hormones.  That means that inflammation there is going to have a far greater effect than inflammation in the peripheral tissues.

Fat Quality and Inflammation

I talk a lot about the importance of healthy fats in the diet, and how the balance of Omega-3 (anti-inflammatory) fats and Omega-6 (pro-inflammatory) fats is so vital to proper function in the body.  It may very well be that it is not a problem of overall quantity of fats, but an overdose of those inflammatory Omega-6 fats that is leading to this inflammation problem in the hypothalamus.

In fact, one of the articles on the subject shows that saturated fats are far more likely to induce this inflammed state in the hypothalamus, and therefore leading to the disruption in insulin and leptin that contributes to weight gain. Monounsaturated fats did not seem to have the undesirable effects.

My advice is, this is even more evidence to avoid processed foods (which are high in pro-inflammatory Omega-6s) and stick to a whole foods diet (also called a “primal” or “paleo” diet).  Additionally, supplementing with Omega-3 fats like fish oils can help reduce inflammation, and antioxidants can help, as well.  Read that article I linked to above for evidence on how antioxidants seem to shut off that NF-kB inflammation switch.

Since inflammation and obesity are linked, you want to avoid that situation as much as possible.  A healthy whole foods diet is the best defense.  After all, who wants an inflamed brain?

Stay healthy!

Maybe the title of this post should be about how SUGAR makes you fat, not insulin, but hey, we’re not looking to point fingers here.  I’m just looking to fill you in on the mechanism of insulin and weight gain, and how those high glycemic index carbs make you fat.

So the first thing that happens is, you eat a big ol’ pile of sugar.  Or bread, or whatever other carbs of choice you want to blame for that bulge in your belly.  Since refined carbohydrates have very little fiber, or filler material, that sugar very very rapidly gets digested and assimilated into your bloodstream.  Unrefined carbs, of course, have a much more muted effect, but with refined carbs you’re basically mainlining sugar.

The immediate effect of this is to dramatically spike the level of sugar circulating in your bloodstream.  As a consequence, your body then releases a massive surge of insulin, which is the hormone the body uses to clear sugar out of the bloodstream.  The more sugar in the blood, the more insulin gets released.

Here’s where we run into the first problem.  High levels of insulin signal the body to store and keep fat.  You’ve essentially just shouted at your stomach, STAY FAT, NO MATTER WHAT.  This holds true regardless of caloric intake.  In the presence of high levels of insulin, your body will not burn fat- instead, it will start to break down muscle and burn that instead. 

You may have encountered this already.  Ever starve yourself like crazy trying to lose weight, and nothing happens?  You were probably eating refined carbs of some sort (when you did eat), and therefore signalled your body to hang on to that fat for dear life.  You probably got sluggish and cranky, but not thin.

There’s more.  Insulin is an antagonist to Human Growth Hormone (HGH) and glucagon, another hormone.  What’s an antagonist?  What it sounds like… it essentially means that insulin blocks or inactivates HGH and glucagon.

So, why should you care?  Well, glucagon is a hormone that tells your body to burn off fat, so I bet you care about THAT.  And HGH not only tells your body to burn fat, it also tells the body to put on lean muscle mass (which increases metabolism and therefore burns off even more fat).

If it sounds like a double whammy, it is.  Insulin itself makes you store fat, and shuts down the hormones that tell you to burn if off.  Bummer, right?

I’m not finished.  Insulin also makes you hungry.  You see, as your blood sugar spikes, your body over-reacts and dumps tons of insulin into your system, which does its job and clears out all of the blood sugar.

As in, ALL of the blood sugar.  So after you spike your blood sugar up, it comes crashing back down.  This is why, after you binge on carbs, you get that sugar rush followed by a huge crash of energy… and a desire for more carbs.  As your blood sugar drops, your energy levels drop along with it.  And, as your body senses a dramatically low level of blood sugar, it gets desperate for exactly that… more sugar.

Kind of a mess, isn’t it?  Plus, refined carbs don’t have any of the fiber to tell your stomach to feel full, so you gobble down tons of the stuff and still feel like eating.  So, let’s sum up:

• You eat a ton of calories but don’t feel full.
• You spike your insulin levels and tell yourself to stay fat.
• You deactivate the hormones that tell your body to burn fat.
• You have a huge energy crash coupled with a fierce desire for more carbs.

Practically makes you think that sugar should be illegal, doesn’t it?  But remember, ANY refined carbohydrates are going to have this effect.  The higher the glycemic index (how sugary the food is), the worse the effect (i.e, the greater the insulin and greater the weight gain).  Quantity of carbs consumed is another obvious factor.

Is it any wonder why I tell people to avoid this stuff?  Refined carbs are practically poison, my friends. As an extra added bonus, there’s some research suggesting spiking insulin levels are a contributing factor to aging. Remember I said it deactivates HGH?  HGH is the hormone that keeps us young (just ask Sylvestor Stallone, he got caught going into Australia with about a million vials of the stuff).

Switch over to a whole foods diet, avoid the carbs, and stay thin and young.  It’s just that simple.

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Stay healthy!