Coenzymes may not get first billing, but they’re essential to the overall health of your body. Enzymes launch chemical processes in your body that perform some of our most crucial functions. You wouldn’t be able to digest food, build muscle, or break down toxins without enzymes, and many enzymes wouldn’t even be able to work as intended if they didn’t have coenzymes to assist. Coenzymes aren’t enzymes in their own right, but they can help launch and speed up these chemical processes. The potential advantages are apparent: faster healing, more rapid and efficient digestion, and more.
Coenzymes occur naturally in your body, and many of them are vitamins that you may already take with your daily supplements. Vitamins B1, B2, and B6 are all coenzymes that are likely in your daily routine. These coenzymes match with protein in your body to create what then becomes the full enzyme. Since the range of different chemical reactions in the human body is massive, so are the numbers of enzymes and coenzymes you’ll find in your body. Many of these coenzymes have demonstrated a lot of potential when taken as a supplement. Others are more mysterious. But as we begin to crack the code on various enzymes and coenzymes, we’ll better understand how we can improve our bodies.
The Most Common Coenzyme: CoQ10
There aren’t many supplements designed to simulate coenzymes, but CoQ10 is far and away from the most popular. Many regard this coenzyme as a miracle drug, and it’s beginning to see the same sort of hype that other wonder drugs like acai berries have gotten in the past. Frankly, that’s doing a disservice to CoQ10. While there’s plenty of health potential in the coenzyme, studies are still early. Despite this, CoQ10 has demonstrated some surprising and exciting results when taken as a supplement.
That’s because CoQ10 is an important naturally occurring component in your body. As an antioxidant, the main job of CoQ10 is to oversee the growth and maintenance of your body. The production of CoQ10 begins to slow down as you age. That’s understandably worrying, but it can be largely resolved by taking supplements as you age. The benefits to this can be manifold.
The most notable and most well-recognized benefit of CoQ10 is to your heart health. CoQ10’s antioxidant qualities can lower your blood pressure and might be able to speed up the cardiac surgery recovery process when used as part of a more balanced nutritional regimen. It’s also believed that CoQ10 can boost your overall energy levels without the crash and burn effect that you get from caffeine. The second primary advantage of CoQ10 is its potential to reduce your blood pressure.
The Verdict on Coenzymes
Many of us take coenzymes as part of our daily vitamins without even knowing what is a coenzyme. The push towards coenzymes in the natural health industry is exciting, but that doesn’t mean you should go jumping the gun. CoQ10 shows promising signs as an all-around health supplement, but whether or not it proves to be the miracle drug that many people make it to be has yet to be seen. That said, it seems perfectly safe to take, and the benefits that have been studied indicate that taking CoQ10 with regularity can be a positive choice for just about everyone. In other words, don’t expect miraculous effects as soon as you take CoQ10 or another coenzyme. Instead, be patient. The impact will likely be minimal, but it can make a big difference when combined with other healthy habits.