CoQ10 & vitamin E & selenium, a new combo ?

[scratchydude]

COQ10, VITAMIN E AND SELENIUM HELP SKIN HEALTH
By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, December 28, 2008, abstracted from "Clinical and biochemical effects of coenzyme Q10, vitamin E, and selenium supplementation to psoriasis patients" printed online December, 2008 in Nutrition

CoQ10 and vitamin E are antioxidants that promote health in a variety of ways. CoQ10 is beneficial for blood sugar health (1), fatigue (2), and headaches (3) and vitamin E is beneficial for lung health (4), mental health (5) and heart health (6). But they have also been shown to possess health benefits when taken together, helping to maintain healthy levels of inflammation (7).

Now a new study ( has found that vitamin E and CoQ10 with selenium may benefit skin health, specifically psoriasis, which affects between 2.0% and 2.6% of Americans (9) and imposes a significant economic burden on our healthcare system (10) with a price tag of $2 to $4 billion per year (11). Two types of psoriasis are psoriatic arthritis (PsA), where patients with psoriasis develop joint problems (12) and erythrodermic psoriasis (EP), which shows as extensive chronic skin plaques and can lead to liver, kidney and heart problems (13).

In the study, 58 patients admitted to a hospital emergency room with either PsA or EP were given a placebo or a supplement containing 50 mg COQ 10, 75 IU Vit E, and 48 mcg selenium. During this time, the patients completed a Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) to measure the severity of their psoriasis (14).

The researchers found that EP patients in the supplement group had 37% lower PSAI scores compared to placebo. PsA patients in the supplement group had 45% lower PSAI scores. Regarding the severity score, which was a combined score for skin and joint symptoms, EP patients had a 16% greater drop in severity score compared to placebo. PsA patients had a 35% greater score drop compared to placebo.

For the researchers, "a combination of conventional therapy and supplementation with vitamin E, coenzyme Q10, and selenium resulted in the improvement of clinical conditions of patients with severe forms of psoriasis in parallel with reduction of oxidative stress." In addition to CoQ10, vitamin E and selenium, other ways to help with skin health include chondroitin sulfate (15) tryptophan (16), omega-3 fatty acids (17), and avoiding gluten (18) and asbestos (19).

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Danville, CA. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at mailto:PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

UPDATE: I'm already down to raw food diet + green smoothies + vitD3&ibuprofen treatment. Who's going to take a chance on this new combo ? The doses used for the trial don't seem really harmful.

[yasmine]

Thanks Scratchy! By chance I already have been taking those supplements for more than 2 years. I have not noticed it helps.

So many natural substances are anti inflammatory like curcumin, fish oil, whey protein, vitamin D, etc. etc. but each one has a minimal effect on P if taken alone, the trick is to find the right combo!

[stewart_h]

i posted about supplement that combines curcumin, bitamin d and serrapeptase on this forum a couple of days ago, might be worth a look see

[scratchydude]

i posted about supplement that combines curcumin, bitamin d and serrapeptase on this forum a couple of days ago, might be worth a look see

Yes I saw, but this combo has been subject to a trial with good results. It would be cool if two groups of people would chose this combo, and the combo mentionned in your topic. See who "wins".

Yasmine,

Have you been taking those supplements alone and at the specified dose ?

My multivitamin (centrum silver) already gives me the vitamin E & selenium needed but I'm not sure whether these doses coming from a multivitamin supplement are better absorbed than taking vitE&selenium each from separated supplements.

I ordered this from iherb: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

I'll be taking the other stuff from my multivitamin, not sure if it is the better option though.
I'll give it a try as I'm about to stop taking the ibuprofen.

[yasmine]

Yes Scratchy I was taking them (and still do) at or higher than the specified dose, 100mg daily in the case of Coenz Q10. I did not take them alone, I also took (and still do) vitamin D, magnesium, alpha lipoic acid, fish oil.

Scratchy are you going to take an anti histamine since your igE is elevated?

[scratchydude]

Anyone else interested in this "journey" ?

Come on guys, it's cheap and quick (according to the study one month), plus we would be competing with the "other treatment"..

[Lazza]

Sorry Scratchy, I have enough supplements to deal with.  I won't consider trying anything new until 2012.

Still, it would be interesting to see how others get on with this combo.


_Lazza

[scratchydude]

I managed to buy this stuff:
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

But I haven't open it yet because it has been made in Japan...I may seem paranoïd but CoQ10 is fermented brown rice grown in Japan by what I understand.

The thing is.....Fukushima!

How can I know it hasn't any radioactivity in it or somekind of other nasty stuff ? How can I know when and exactly Where it was produced ? Add to that the fact that radiation has been detected as far as 30 miles around te nuclear plant....

Damn, the same thing happened to me already with the "organic" brown rice protein I purchased one month ago.
I wasn't careful enough to read right on the website where I purchased it that the label had a "Proposition 65 warning" stating that even though it was organic, the product contained substances known to cause birth defect/cancer! Then I searched info on other boards and got to know that rice was not californian at all but rather 1/3 californian, 1/3 chinese, 1/3 indian!
I threw 23€ to the trash :-(


Now I have a good CoQ10 supplement that might be irradiated.....unless...maybe not...or maybe it is..........pffffffffffff

Any advice?

PS: I get to learn that most of the CoQ10 sold out there is made in japan, it's a chance that Dr's Best would specify it on their label!

[Lazza]

Scratchy, I wouldn't be too concerned.  Even if there is some contamination, which is highly doubtful, you are consuming only a very small quantity.  So I would go with it.  But then again, I ate British beef back in the days of the Mad Cow scare. 


_Lazza

[scratchydude]

Scratchy, I wouldn't be too concerned.  Even if there is some contamination, which is highly doubtful, you are consuming only a very small quantity.  So I would go with it.  But then again, I ate British beef back in the days of the Mad Cow scare.  


_Lazza

Hummmm, I guess you may be right, But, still, do you happen to know a kind of american website/UK website where products could be traced with details thanks to their narcode ?

Near the barcode, perpendicular to it there's this reference "P 02/11"      .... ?