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Overlooked Nutrient Zaps Gum Disease

You may be using CoQ10 already but not getting all its benefits…

It’s a potent antioxidant and the fuel source that feeds your high-energy organs like your heart, eyes and brain.

CoQ10’s real-life benefits are endless, especially as you age.

And even though the anti-aging impact of CoQ10 on another part of your body has been well-documented for decades by scientists and researchers, it is still ignored by mainstream medicine. It’s an area that’s usually left to another specialist.

I’m talking about your mouth and gums – one of the most important anti-aging areas of your body.

You see, good oral health has the power to reverse aging throughout your entire body. But, sadly, this is overlooked by doctors and even most dentists.

‘Bad’ Bacteria Fueled by Sugar

Traditional dentists look at your mouth as if it’s isolated. But there is a bigger picture –everything in your body is interdependent and connected biologically.

Your mouth is the gateway to the rest of your body. It’s also home to a stable ecosystem of around 100 billion healthy bacteria.

But in the mouth of someone with tooth decay or gum disease, that ecosystem comes under attack from harmful bacteria, which are being fueled by the sugar in your diet.

These harmful bacteria spread from your infected gums directly to your bloodstream, causing inflammation and infection wherever they travel.

Clinical evidence has shown the same bacteria that cause tooth decay and gum disease also damage the lining of your blood vessels and trigger inflammation.1 This is what can lead to heart disease, arthritis, nervous system disorders, cancer and more.

Smokers get hit the hardest. Their mouths are breeding grounds for unhealthy bacterial communities, which colonize with incredible speed.2

Smokers also have higher levels of cytokines, which shows that their bodies are mounting defenses against infection. This immune response takes the form of red, swollen gums – called gingivitis – that can lead to the irreversible bone loss in your mouth.3 But often these defenses also attack perfectly healthy cells.

I’ve seen for years that patients with heart disease and other serious disorders also suffered from gingivitis.

The Secret to Healthy Gums

This is where CoQ10 comes in. I always prescribe CoQ10 to my heart-disease patients, because heart cells need more energy than any other organ. It needs enough energy to pump blood throughout the whole body.

But I also noticed after a few weeks of treatment that CoQ10 not only helped their heart condition, it also stopped their gum disease.

I checked the research and found a lot of evidence linking CoQ10 to the reversal of gum disease.4 One study looked at 40 gingivitis patients and found most were CoQ10 deficient.5

Another study using a double-blind trial found that CoQ10 doses of 50 to 75 mg every day stopped gum disease very quickly – sometimes within just a few days.6

But I wasn’t surprised to discover the benefits of CoQ10 on gum disease. This super-nutrient is produced by your body in a 17-step process that requires at least eight vitamins, trace minerals and the amino acid tyrosine. And its strength lies in its power to protect and fire up your mitochondria, the microscopic power plants of your cells.

Your mitochondria also make up the master energy system that runs all your body’s functions – your circulatory, immune and endocrine system, as well as everything else that keeps you alive.

Low levels of CoQ10 affect every aspect of life. It also affects health, which brings on diseases and speed up aging. Yet CoQ10’s crucial role is still ignored by mainstream medicine.

Mitochondria are where food is converted into energy – but they are also the Achilles’ heel of cellular aging. As you grow older, your body produces less CoQ10 and that’s when your energy-producing system slows down. Our brains are no longer sharp, our hearts do not beat as efficiently and we get tired easily.

But replacing depleted CoQ10 reserves through diet and supplementation has a potent and rejuvenating impact on every part of your body – including your gums. It supercharges the energy output from each of your cellular power producers.

Here’s What I Recommend

First, look for CoQ10 from your diet. CoQ10 is a bright red pigment, and the highest concentrations are found in red-meat animals like beef, mutton, goat, ostrich, and rabbit.

In the table below, you get a quick idea of which foods have the most, and how much you need to eat.

Do This First: Your Best Food Sources of CoQ10

Food Source
Notes
Serving
CoQ10 (mg)
Pork heart Only available in specialty markets
3 oz
7.5
Beef heart Only available in specialty markets
3 oz
6.0
Beef Look for grass-fed sources
3 oz
2.6
Herring, marinated Avoid farm-raised
3 oz
2.3
Chicken Look for free-range sources
3 oz
1.4
Rainbow Trout, steamed Look for wild-caught sources
3 oz
0.9
Pistachio nuts, roasted Organic when possible
1 oz
0.6
Broccoli, boiled  Organic when possible
1/2 cup, chopped
0.5
Orange Organic when possible
1 medium
0.3

Aside from your diet, you can also supplement with CoQ10:

  • Try a chewable form of CoQ10, and leave it in your mouth for a few minutes to coat your gums.
  • Gargle with a natural mouthwash containing CoQ10. You can find organic, oral care products at most vitamin or health food stores.
  • Take a CoQ10 supplement. The most powerful is the “reduced” or ubiquinol form. Take at least 50 mg per day, up to 200 mg in divided doses if you have gum disease or an infection.
  • To give CoQ10 a boost, add 10 mg of the antioxidant PQQ. This is the first nutrient ever discovered to multiply the number of mitochondria in your cells. This will help to heal and strengthen your gums.
    To Your Good Health,
    Al Sears, MD
    Al Sears, MD, CNS

    1. Phillips P.1, Progulske-Fox A., Grieshaber S., Grieshaber N. Expression of Porphyromonas gingivalis small RNA in response to hemin availability identified using microarray and RNA-seq analysis. FEMS Microbiol Lett. 2014 Feb;351(2):202-8. doi: 10.1111/1574-6968.12320. Epub 2013 Nov 19.
    2. Joshi V., Matthews C., Aspiras M., de Jager M., Ward M., Kumar P. “Smoking decreases structural and functional resilience in the subgingival ecosystem.” J Clin Periodontol. 2014 Nov;41(11):1037-47. 2014
    3. Ibid
    4. Hansen IL., Iwamoto Y., Kishi T., Folkers K., Thompson LE. Bioenergetics in clinical medicine. IX. Gingival and leucocytic deficiencies of coenzyme Q10 in patients with periodontal disease. Res Commun Chem Pathol Pharmacol. 1976 Aug; 14(4):729-38.
    5. Nakamura R, Littarru GP, Folkers K, Wilkinson EG. Study of CoQ10-enzymes in gingiva from patients with periodontal disease and evidence for a deficiency of coenzyme Q10. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1974 Apr.
    6. Ibid.