By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, January 21, 2010, abstracted from “Grapefruit juice enhance the uptake of coenzyme Q10 in the human intestinal cell-line Caco-2” in the May 15, 2010 issue of Food Chemistry

CoQ10 was first identified in 1957 and was named “ubiquinone” because it is found everywhere in the body.  It is found in the highest amounts in the heart, liver, kidneys, and pancreas and in lowest amounts in the lungs (1).  CoQ10 helps maintain healthy levels of inflammation (2), helps with mental health, including Alzheimer’s (3) and Parkinson’s Disease (4); migraines (5), heart health (6), and even blood sugar health (7).

Despite all of these health benefits, one issue with CoQ10 supplementation is its low bioavailability, meaning it is poorly absorbed into the body by the intestines (8).  This has caused many CoQ10 supplements to be combined with oils to help increase bioavailability (9).  Now a new lab study (10) has found that grapefruit juice may enhance CoQ10 absorption.

In the study, researchers found grapefruit juice to “significantly increase” the uptake of CoQ10 into colorectal cells (Caco-2 cells).  Specifically, the cells were bathed in a solution containing 1% grapefruit juice and CoQ10 (10 micromolar) for 2 hours.  They then used High Performance Liquid Chromatography to measure the uptake of CoQ10 by the colorectal cells and found that CoQ10 uptake in the grapefruit juice solution was 50% greater compared to the placebo group.

The researchers suggested that grapefruit juice is able to increase CoQ10 uptake by lowering the activity of a cell membrane protein called P-glycoprotein (11), which directly controls CoQ10 uptake into the cell (12).  For the researchers, “It is possible that co-administration of CoQ10 with grapefruit juice constitutes an easily accessible way to improve the intestinal absorption of CoQ10.”

It is important to know that grapefruit juice’s ability to affect cell membrane proteins also causes it to interact with prescription medications, such as those for high blood pressure and high cholesterol (13) as well as those for abnormal heartbeat (14).  If you are taking prescription medications, be sure to inform your doctor if you wish to include grapefruit juice in your diet to avoid any adverse interactions.

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Danville, CA.  You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at mailto:PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.CompleteChiropracticHealthcare.com

Reference:

1. “Questions and answers about Coenzyme Q10” posted on the National Cancer Institute Website http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/coenzymeQ10/Patient/page2
2. Wang, X.L., et al., Cosupplementation with vitamin E and coenzyme Q10 reduces circulating markers of inflammation in baboons. Am J Clin Nutr, 2004. 80(3): p. 649-55
3. Ishrat T.  Coenzyme Q10 modulates cognitive impairment against intracerebroventricular injection of streptozotocin in rats.  Printed online in Behavioural Brain Research doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2006.03.009
4. Hargreaves IP.  The coenzyme Q10 status of the brain regions of Parkinson’s disease patients.  Neuroscience Letters 447 (2008) 17–19
5. Pothmann, R.  Migraine Prevention in Children and Adolescents: Results of an Open Study With a Special Butterbur Root Extract.  Headache 2005; 45(3): 196-203
6. Wisloff, U., S. M. Najjar, et al. (2005). "Cardiovascular risk factors emerge after artificial selection for low aerobic capacity." Science 307(5708): 418-20
7. Petersen, K. F., D. Befroy, et al. (2003). "Mitochondrial dysfunction in the elderly: possible role in insulin resistance." Science 300(5622): 1140-2
8. Y. Zhang, F. Aberg, E.L. Appelkvist, G. Dallner and L. Ernster, Uptake of dietary coenzyme Q supplement is limited in rats, Journal of Nutrition 125 (1995), pp. 446–453
9. “CoQ10 Emulsions Boost Bioavailability” posted on Nutraingredients.com – April 8,  2008 http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/CoQ10-emulsions-boost-bioavailability-study
10. Itagaki S.  Grapefruit juice enhance the uptake of coenzyme Q10 in the human intestinal cell-line Caco-2.  Food Chemistry 2010; 120(2): 552-555
11. A. Dahan and G.L. Amidon, Grapefruit juice and its constituents augment colchicine intestinal absorption: Potential hazardous interaction and the role of p-glycoprotein, Pharmaceutical Research 26 (2009), pp. 883–892
12. Itagaki S.  Interaction of coenzyme Q10 with the intestinal drug transporter P-glycoprotein, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 56 (2008), pp. 6923–6927
13. “Grapefruit Interactions” posted on http://www.healthcentral.com/peoplespharmacy/pp_guides/PDF/gfruit02.pdf
14. “List of Drugs Affected by Grapefruit” posted on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_drugs_affected_by_grapefruit