The mere mention of “Q10” sounds like a latitude-longitude directional device maps use to help lost travelers find their destination. This it may be, but the Q10 I speak of refers to a coenzyme in your body with health properties so beneficial that you’d literally be lost without them. And studies show that the proper supplementation of Q10 can help in the treating and prevention of the leading cause of death in America: heart disease.

Coenzyme Q10 is a lot like the cells in our body: They’re everywhere. Without them, the body’s cellular processes would not be able to function adequately.

We get this ubiquitous vitamin-like substance largely from the food eat, but as we age, our bodies’ ability to absorb nutrients declines, leaving us more susceptible to acquiring heart conditions, cancers, and diseases like Parkinson’s and gum disease.

But years of research and studies seem to indicate that when Coenzyme Q10 is supplemented into the diet, it can help ward off diseases like the aforementioned, reduce blood pressure, lower weight levels and, most significantly, reduce the risk of heart disease.

As reported in a 1995 article by The Nutrition Reporter, the coenzyme’s linkage to the heart goes back to the 1960s, when Japanese researchers found that the heart depended on Q10 to beat as often as it does (approximately 100,000 times a day) through “bioenergetics.”

The research led to perhaps the most significant and compelling finding on Q10’s healing powers in a 1985 study. Using 19 people with a progressive form of heart failure called cardiomyopathy, doctors from the University of Texas supplemented their patients’ treatment with Q10. Amazingly, despite all 19 considered to be on the cusp of death prior to the supplementation, all 19 patients exhibited “extraordinary clinical improvement” after its use, according to the written report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. The lead doctor continued to use coenzyme Q10 in his treatments, writing about several other successful Q10 supplementation treatments in journals like Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications.

Though coenzyme Q10 is a nutrient that the body makes naturally, its most often supplemented in tablet form rather than by eating large amounts foods rich in Q10 such as liver. But not all Q10 supplements are built the same

In order for Q10 to be properly absorbed, it must be oil-based. It also has to have elements of vitamin E, as coenzyme Q10 works in tandem with vitamin E in performing its artery-clearing magic.

The best Q10 supplement on the market today, I believe, is Jarrow Formulas’ Q-Absorb. It’s clinically proven to increase the levels of Q10 in your system up to 400 percent because it is oil-based, enabling greater absorption. In fact, it is absorbed three to four times more efficiently than the chewable Q10 tablets on the market.

I have absolutely NO financial stake in promoting this product. I do it simply because I use it myself and feel as though it’s the best Q10 softgel for maximum Q10 absorption based on my research.