There is absolutely no question that mental illness takes a huge toll in this country.
According to the National Alliance for Mental Illness, approximately one in five adults in the U.S. (almost 44 million, or 18.5 percent of the population) has some type of mental illness in any given year.1
Mood disorders, which include depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, are the most common types of mental illnesses. According to the National Alliance for Mental Illness, 18 percent of American adults have some type of anxiety disorder (such as posttraumatic stress disorder), almost 7 percent (16 million people) have undergone a major depressive episode during the past year, and more than 2 percent have bipolar disorder.1
Given these alarming numbers, you should not be surprised to see these numbers reflected within your own patient population. As a result, it behooves you to not only include questions about mental health and psychiatric medications during your medical history intake, but to be aware of nutritional supplements that can have adverse interactions with psychiatric medications.
Furthermore, you should also familiarize yourself with supplements that may provide protective benefits in terms of mental health.
CoQ10 is one excellent example of this. CoQ10 supplements, which replace loss of the body’s natural antioxidant coenzyme Q10 due to aging, have been well researched in terms of cardiac health benefits. However, more recent studies show promising results in terms of their additional role in improving mood disorders.
What is CoQ10?
CoQ10 is an antioxidant found naturally in the body. It helps convert food into energy, and is most often found in the heart, liver and kidneys, which have the greatest energy requirements. Dietary sources of CoQ10 can be found in animal heart and liver organs, fish, parsley, avocado, and soybean oil.
However, the average daily intake of CoQ10 is only 3–6 milligrams per day, most of which comes from meat that has been cooked, thereby reducing its bioavailability by about 15 to 30 percent.
A 2013 article in the journal Molecular Biology examined the role CoQ10 supplementation can play in replacing lowered coenzyme Q10 levels.2 There is well-established research pointing at lowered coenzyme Q10 levels among patients with either depression or bipolar disorder, particularly accompanying neurological disorders.
The researchers found that CoQ10 supplementation reduced fatigue and improved ergonomics during exercise for patients with Parkinson’s disease, thus elevating their mood.2
Similar to the article in Molecular Biology, a 2016 article in the journal Nutritional Neuroscience examined the effect of adding CoQ10 supplementation for treating fatigue and depression in patients with multiple sclerosis.3 A group of 48 patients with multiple sclerosis were randomized to receive either a placebo or 500 mg of a CoQ10 supplement daily for 12 weeks.
Over the course of the study, patients taking CoQ10 showed a decrease in fatigue and depression, while the placebo group showed an increase in symptoms. The researchers concluded that CoQ10 may be beneficial in helping treat mood issues that often accompany multiple sclerosis.3
A more recent 2018 article in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology examined the effectiveness of CoQ10 supplementation in treating the depression cycle in bipolar disorder, which may be linked to oxidative stress.4
A group of 69 patients with bipolar disorder, and who were undergoing a depressive episode, were randomized to receive either 200 mg per day of a CoQ10 supplement or a placebo for eight weeks. Any mood stabilizing medications remained the same for the duration of the study.
Patients in both groups showed a decrease in symptoms of depression over time, but the group taking CoQ10 showed better response at the end of eight weeks of treatment.4
CoQ10 is well established as a powerful antioxidant. More recent research appears to show that this antioxidant benefit may also help improve symptoms of mood disorders.
Of course, you should always take a careful medical history, including any medications, before recommending CoQ10.
However, your patients may be pleasantly surprised at the additional benefits that they could derive in terms of mood improvement.
National Alliance on Mental Illness. Mental health by the numbers. https://www.nami.org/learn-more/mental-health-by-the-numbers. Updated Dec. 6, 2018. Retrieved Feb. 19, 2019.
Morris G, Anderson G, Berk M, Maes M. Coenzyme Q10 depletion in medical and neuropsychiatric disorders: Potential repercussions and therapeutic implications. Molecular Neurobiology. 2013 Dec;48(3):883-903.
Sanoobar M, Dehghan P, Khalili M et al. Coenzyme Q10 as a treatment for fatigue and depression in multiple sclerosis patients: A double blind randomized clinical trial. Nutritional Neuroscience. 2016;19(3):138-143.
Mehrpooya M, Yasrebifar F, Haghighi M, et al. Evaluating the effect of coenzyme Q10 augmentation on treatment of bipolar depression: A double-blind controlled clinical trial. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. 2018 Oct;38(5):460-466.