This is what Dr. Andrew Weil has to say about 'standard' CoQ10:" In addition, because I eat a mostly vegetarian diet low in zinc, I take a supplement of that mineral as well (30mg a day). I also take the supplement coenzyme Q (30 - 60 mg a day) which increases aerobic activity and protects the heart muscle. While coenzyme Q does occur naturally in all fruits and vegetables, again, it is difficult to get enough of it on a daily basis from food alone. Men who have proven coronary heart disease should consider taking 300mg of coenzyme Q a day, as should women with breast cancer, since this dosage has been shown to increase survival times in women with that disease."

Dr. James E. Balch recommends it as an essential nutrient saying it "Prevents additional heart damage caused by lack of oxygen". CoQ-10 is an enzyme found in all cells of the body. It occurs naturally, and is the co-factor in the electron transport chain between cells. If is is lacking, the body's most important source of cellular energy is depleted, and many medical conditions are aggravated. It is most concentrated in the heart and liver, and is a vital component in the mitochondria, the body's metabolic factories.

It is a powerful antioxidant, scavenging free radicals, sitting in the membranes with Vitamin E, which it recycles to keep it most active.

It has been shown that enhancing the body's CoQ-10 can:

-Reduce many of the serious side effects of cholesterol and other prescription
drugs such as adriamycin, beta-blockers and psychiatric drugs.

-Reduce the effects of aging on numerous facets.

-Aids in the recovery from a wide range of heart problems including angina
pectoris, congestive heart failure and mitral valve prolapse.

-Can reduce blood pressure and blood lipids at 30 mg day.

-Assists chronic fatigue sufferers when administered at 90 to 300 mg per day.

-Assists in weight loss by stimulating mitochondria and thermogenic activity

-Treating chronic gum disease

-Building a strong immune system as a defense against all forms of disease

-May normalize blood sugar levels

-Helps in maintaining a healthy brain

Please read below for more info on CoQ10:

An Energy Producer
The coenzyme's function can be compared to a spark plug in a car engine. Just as the spark plug provides an initial spark to start the engine, CoQ10 also jumpstarts energy production within cells. The body uses the generated energy to operate all of its vital processes, including muscle contraction and digestion.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin first discovered CoQ10 in 1957. Examining how the cell produces energy, Professor F.L. Crane and his colleagues came across CoQ10. Since then, scientists have found evidence that CoQ10 supplements may provide significant assistance in the prevention and treatment of a number of health disorders, especially cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Preventing Heart Disease
In one of the first steps in the development of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, free-floating oxygen molecules attack LDL cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol) in the blood. The result is a reactive type of LDL cholesterol that can damage the lining of arteries.

As an antioxidant, CoQ10 prevents cholesterol from being attacked. And because CoQ10 does the job, the body can save its reserve of vitamin E for other uses. The coenzyme has also been found to work in conjunction with vitamin E to prevent damage that leads to heart disease.

The coenzyme is mainly used by patients with cardiovascular diseases, including congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, cardiomyopathy, mitral valve prolapse, coronary artery bypass surgery and angina. Because of its importance in generating energy for the heart, some researchers believe that CoQ10 can be used as a drug to boost ailing organs, particularly the heart.

Other Uses:
CoQ10 may also help to improve the symptoms of diabetes, periodontal disease, immune deficiency, cancer and muscular dystrophy. Some people use CoQ10 as a weight-loss aid while some athletes use the supplement as a performance-enhancer.

Since the response of CoQ10 can take time, getting results may take more than eight weeks.

What does congestive heart failure, gum disease and obesity have in common?
Very often, a deficiency of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). A lack of CoQ10 has also been implicated in arrhythmia’s, strokes, hypertension, heart attacks, atherosclerosis, muscular dystrophy and AIDS and many of these diseases can be prevented and treated successfully with CoQ10. Since its discovery and isolation 40 years ago hundreds of clinical research studies have been done on CoQ10 and it is now abundantly clear that this nutrient is absolutely vital to health.

Coenzyme Q10 (ubiquinone/ubiquinol) is a fat-soluble quinone with a structure similar to that of vitamin K. It is a powerful antioxidant both on its own and in combination with vitamin E and is vital in powering the body's energy production (ATP) cycle. CoQ10 is found throughout the body in cell membranes, especially in the mitochondrial membranes and is particularly abundant in the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, spleen, pancreas and adrenal glands. The total body content of CoQ10 is only about 500-1500 mg and decreases with age.

CoQ10 was first isolated from beef heart mitochondria by Dr. Frederick Crane of Wisconsin, U.S.A., in 1957. The same year, Professor Morton of England defined a compound obtained from vitamin A deficient rat liver to be the same as CoQ10. Professor Morton introduced the name ubiquinone, meaning the ubiquitous quinone. In 1958, Professor Karl Folkers and coworkers at Merck, Inc., determined the precise chemical structure of CoQ10: 2,3 dimethoxy-5 methyl-6 decaprenyl benzoquinone, synthesized it, and were the first to produce it by fermentation. In the mid-1960's, Professor Yamamura of Japan became the first in the world to use coenzyme Q7 (a related compound) in the treatment of human disease: congestive heart failure. In 1966, Mellors and Tappel showed that reduced CoQ6 was an effective antioxidant. In 1972 Gian Paolo Littarru of Italy along with Professor Karl Folkers documented a deficiency of CoQ10 in human heart disease. By the mid-1970's, the Japanese perfected the industrial technology to produce pure CoQ10 in quantities sufficient for larger clinical trials. Peter Mitchell received the Nobel Prize in 1978 for his contribution to the understanding of biological energy transfer through the formulation of the chemiosmotic theory, which includes the vital protonmotive role of CoQ10 in energy transfer systems.

Coenzyme Q10 has received particular attention in the prevention and treatment of various forms of cardiovascular disease. It is highly effective in preventing the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) which leads to atherosclerosis. Several studies have shown that patients with congestive heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases have significantly lower levels of CoQ10 in their heart tissue than do healthy people and supplementation with as little as 100 mg/day has been shown to markedly improve their condition. CoQ10 is now approved in Japan for the treatment of congestive heart failure.

Nutritional factors play an important role in the development and treatment of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, health care professionals may overlook, or even disregard, some of these factors for several reasons, including inadequate training and conflicting reports in the biomedical literature. This review provides a synopsis of more than two-dozen nutritional approaches to primary and secondary prevention and therapy of CVD. Favorable cardiovascular effects have been reported with the use of unsaturated fatty acids, vegetarian and semi-vegetarian diets, dietary fiber, plant sterols, alcoholic beverages, vitamins (niacin, E, C, B6, B12, folate), minerals (potassium, calcium, magnesium, selenium), conditionally-essential nutrients (coenzyme Q10, L-carnitine, taurine) and botanical agents (garlic, hawthorn, gugulipid). In contrast, transfatty acids, oxysterols, homocysteinemia, carbohydrate intolerance, and excessive sodium chloride and iron have been associated with undesirable cardiovascular effects. A nutritional approach to CVD provides a pivotal adjuvant to traditional pharmaceutical and/or surgical interventions by maximizing the likelihood of success in decreasing CVD morbidity and mortality and minimizing the economic and social costs associated with this disease.

Possible undesirable consequences of long term nutritional supplementation with vitamin E and of adverse drug-nutrient interactions between the statins and CoQ10 are also considered. Although additional intervention studies are needed, current scientific evidence generally supports nutritional supplementation with these nutrients as an effective adjunctive strategy for CVD control.

Coenzyme Q10 is a redox component in the respiratory chain. CoQ10 is necessary for human life to exist; and a deficiency can be contributory to ill health and disease. A deficiency of CoQ10 in myocardial disease has been found and controlled therapeutic trials have established CoQ10 as a major advance in the therapy of resistant myocardial failure. CoQ10 significantly reduces the cardiotoxicity of Adriamycin, used in treatment modalities of cancer, apparently because the side-effects of adriamycin include inhibition of mitochondrial CoQ10 enzymes. Models of the immune system including phagocytic rate, circulating antibody level, neoplasia, viral and parasitic infections were used to demonstrate that CoQ10 is an immunomodulating agent. It was concluded that CoQ10, at the mitochondrial level, is essential for the optimal function of the immune system.

Heart attacks and strokes produce a burst of free radicals (ischemia - reperfusion) which can result in extensive tissue damage. Patients with high CoQ10 levels suffer less damage from these events and Japanese researchers have found that CoQ10 supplementation prior to and immediately following open heart surgery is highly beneficial in preventing reperfusion injury - a common complication in heart surgery. Supplementation with CoQ10 has also been found beneficial in patients with chronic stable angina, mitral valve prolapse and irregular heart beat (arrhythmias).

Several studies also indicate that CoQ10 may be beneficial in the treatment of hypertension (high blood pressure). A study of 109 patients with long-standing, essential hypertension, who were on antihypertensive drugs, concluded that supplementation with an average of 125 mg/day of CoQ10 improved functional status, allowed about half the patients to discontinue most of their blood pressure medications and resulted in an average decrease of systolic blood pressure from 159 to 147 mm Hg and a diastolic pressure decrease from 94 to 85 mm Hg. Smaller, more recent Japanese studies have confirmed these findings.

Reports from several research groups--including two small double-blind clinical studies--indicate that supplemental coenzyme Q10 (CoQ) is moderately effective as a treatment for hypertension, in humans and in animals. Its efficacy is associated with a decrease in total peripheral resistance, and appears to reflect a direct impact of CoQ on the vascular wall. A reasonable interpretation of these findings is that CoQ is acting as an antagonist of vascular superoxide--either scavenging it, or suppressing its synthesis. By improving the efficiency of shuttle mechanisms that transfer high-energy electrons from the cytoplasm to the mitochondrial respiratory chain, CoQ may decrease cytoplasmic NADH levels and thereby diminish the reductive power that drives superoxide synthesis in endothelium and vascular smooth muscle. If CoQ therapy does indeed lower vascular superoxide levels, it can be expected to decrease the atherothrombotic risk associated with hypertension, and may have broader utility in the management of disorders characterized by endotheliopathy.

Coenzyme Q10 is a great boost to heart health, but it has many other beneficial effects. Strenuous physical exercise reduces blood levels of CoQ10 and supplementation with 60 mg/day has been found to improve athletic performance. Administration of CoQ10 alone or in combination with vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) boosts the immune system and may be useful in the treatment of AIDS and other infectious diseases. An adequate level of CoQ10 in the body is essential to proper muscle functioning and several studies have indeed shown that supplementation with 100-150 mg/day of CoQ10 markedly improves the condition of people suffering from muscular dystrophy.

Many overweight people have very low levels of CoQ10 and supplementation may enable them to lose weight due to the effect of CoQ10 in speeding up the metabolism of fats.

CoQ10 has been used with success in combating periodontal diseases, especially gingivitis (gum disease). Tissue affected by gingivitis is deficient in CoQ10 and experiments have shown that supplementation with as little as 50 mg/day can decrease inflammation. More recent research has shown that topical application of CoQ10 dissolved in soya oil (85 mg/ml) to affected areas (periodontal pockets) reduces bleeding and the depth of the pocket.
Research carried out in Denmark has provided some tantalizing evidence that CoQ10 may also be effective in the fight against certain cancers. A trial involving the treatment of 32 breast cancer patients with mega-doses of vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and coenzyme Q10 (90 mg/day) in addition to conventional therapy showed a highly beneficial effect of the supplementation. Two of the patients in the trial whose tumors had not regressed had their CoQ10 dosages increased to 390 mg/day and 300 mg/day respectively with the result that their tumors disappeared completely within three months. CoQ10 supplementation is also very important for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy with heart toxic drugs such as adriamycin and athralines. Recent research has also shown that certain cholesterol-lowering drugs (lovastatin, etc.) block the natural synthesis of CoQ10 so supplementation with 100 mg/day is recommended for patients taking these drugs.

Despite considerable worldwide efforts, no single etiology has been identified to explain the development of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). It is likely that multiple factors promote its development, sometimes with the same factors both causing and being caused by the syndrome. A detailed review of the literature suggests a number of marginal nutritional deficiencies may have etiologic relevance. These include deficiencies of various B vitamins, vitamin C, magnesium, sodium, zinc, L-tryptophan, L-carnitine, coenzyme Q10, and essential fatty acids. Any of these nutrients could be marginally deficient in CFS patients, a finding that appears to be primarily due to the illness process rather than to inadequate diets. It is likely that marginal deficiencies not only contribute to the clinical manifestations of the syndrome, but also are detrimental to the healing processes. Therefore, when feasible, objective testing should identify them and their resolution should be assured by repeat testing following initiation of treatment. Moreover, because of the rarity of serious adverse reactions, the difficulty in ruling out marginal deficiencies, and because some of the therapeutic benefits of nutritional supplements appear to be due to pharmacological effects, it seems rational to consider supplementing CFS patients with the nutrients discussed above, along with a general high-potency vitamin/mineral supplement, at least for a trial period.

The body can synthesize coenzyme Q10 and it is also found in several dietary sources notably organ meats. The level of CoQ10 in human organs peaks around the age of 20 years and then declines fairly rapidly. The decrease in CoQ10 concentration in the heart is particularly significant with a 77-year-old person having 57 per cent less CoQ10 in the heart muscle than a 20-year-old. Some experts involved in CoQ10 research believes that many people, especially older people and people engaging in vigorous exercise may be deficient in CoQ10 and may benefit from supplementation. The recommended daily dosage for health maintenance is 30 mg; however, considerably higher amounts are required in the treatment of the various diseases for which supplementation has been found beneficial. CoQ10 should be taken with a meal containing some fat or even better, in combination with soya or vegetable oil which enhances its absorption quite substantially. The body readily absorbs CoQ10 supplements and no toxic effects have been reported for daily dosages as high as 300 mg. The safety of CoQ10, however, has not been established in pregnancy and lactation, so caution is advised here until more data becomes available.