You've undoubtedly read a lot about coenzyme Q10 or CoQ10 and its possible benefit for people with Parkinson's disease. Scientists continue to explore whether a dose of 1,200 - 2,400 milligrams of CoQ10 each day can help people with Parkinson's disease. One previous study showed that it might help slow the progression of Parkinson's disease. So the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is conducting another larger study to more precisely define the benefit.
We were concerned when news reports about a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) went out this week explaining that CoQ10 does not improve Parkinson's disease symptoms. We thought some people with Parkinson's disease would get the message that CoQ10 does not help Parkinson's disease at all. However, the JAMA study only addressed symptoms, leaving the NINDS to continue work on answering the "progression" question.
My Parkinson's Info contacted Alexander Storch, MD, the lead author of the JAMA article to see if he could help us clarify the difference between the two studies. He began by addressing the recently published JAMA study. "In our study we investigated potential symptomatic effects of CoQ10 in Parkinson's disease, that means whether CoQ10 is able to improve the symptoms (motor and non-motor symptoms) of PD. Unfortunately, we did not find any symptomatic effects of CoQ10 in PD."
Referring to the separate NINDS study, Dr. Storch clarified: "The NINDS study aims to show protective effects of CoQ10 in PD. That means whether CoQ10 is able to slow down or stop the progression of PD, or the progression of dopaminergic cells loss in PD."
Doctors and scientists do not fully understand the biological mechanisms underlying Parkinson's disease, but some of them suspect a malfunction of the mitochondria, parts of the cells that help convert food to energy. Coenzyme (CoQ10), an antioxidant sold as a dietary supplement, is also involved in mitochondrial processes. "Because of these functions, CoQ10 has attracted attention concerning neuroprotective actions in neurodegenerative disorders linked to mitochondrial defects or oxidative [oxygen-related] stress, such as Huntington's disease and Parkinson's disease," the authors of the JAMA study write.
So, it is important to do studies that measure the effect of CoQ10 on people with Parkinson's disease. CoQ10 does not generally help most people with their motor or non-motor symptoms related to Parkinson's disease. If it has helped you, you are a fortunate exception to this general rule. However, we are still waiting for the NINDS study to tell us if CoQ10 truly slows the progression of Parkinson's disease.
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