It’s not often that a nutrient has been proven to make your skin look younger.
It was even compared to a placebo, and it still made a difference.
The nutrient CoQ10 was recently proven to help skin during winter to make younger-looking skin happen.
Thirty-three women aged 45-60 were divided into three random groups. One group got a placebo, one received 50 mg of CoQ10 and the third 150 mg per day.
To make the test more impressive, the study was done during the winter, a season which is tough on the skin.
The subjects received the supplement for 12 weeks and the results were surprising.
WRINKLES: (Measured around the eye.) CoQ10 subjects showed significant reduction, none with placebo.
SKIN ELASTICITY: (Measured with ultrasound.) The placebo group saw a reduction of 25% of their skin’s hydration and elasticity because of the pounding it takes from winter weather, BUT there was NO CHANGE in the CoQ10 group.
SMOOTHNESS: (Measured by experts who were not told by anyone which group the subjects were in.) 70-80% improvement in the CoQ10 group while no observed change in the placebo group.
Now this is not a topical ointment, or part of their makeup, this was taken in tablet form.
Why was this happening? The researchers hypothesized that CoQ10 helps the skin at the cellular level.
This may be the first major double-blind study to show oral CoQ10 can create positive changes in your body’s largest organ, your skin.
If it can make these changes here imagine what positive changes it is making in the organs we can’t see.
Are these changes because of what CoQ10 does at cellular level to the mitochondria?
In order to work well, cells require healthy and efficient mitochondria to gain energy. These are at the center of the electron transport chain.
This is how cells are fed by carbs and fat. This is where we get our energy from. The energy switches to ATP cells. Free radicals are a toxic by-product of this process. CoQ10 is the cleanup agent.
Without antioxidants, the damage done by free radicals will lead to decreased skin elasticity, more wrinkles and other signs of outward aging.
But this study shows you can fight back by taking CoQ10.
Studies have shown that CoQ10 levels drop in the body as we age, which also corresponds with the outward, visible signs of aging.
Because of lowered CoQ10 levels, the cells burn energy in a way that is not as efficient as it was when we were younger and the lower CoQ10 levels tends to increase the amount of toxins in our system.
This was tested by doing biopsies of the skin, to see just how big of an impact healthy mitochondrion plays in a youthful appearance.
And then the researchers checked the cells to see how much CoQ10 was in them, and the results were remarkable.
The biopsies showed that the healthier (and younger-looking skin) had higher CoQ10 levels.
This study should not be dismissed because it only matters to our vanity. Because skin is our bodies largest organ, it plays into our health in a number of ways. (For more on the importance of healthy skin, see this Freedom Health News article.
The increased CoQ10 levels also helped improve lung function which was also tested in the study.
Have you been taking CoQ10? Have you been noticing results? Share your observations with your fellow readers below.
