CoQ10

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I recommend to buy from Dr. Judy at Cyto Med. You should contact him at 866-751-2872 rather than buy on the web to get the PWS discount. He is a very kind man and can answer many questions, such as how much to give. The likely answer is one to two gel caps.

It should be given in the morning as its purpose is to give an energy boost and presumably it goes in the blood stream right away and has its effect. The gel caps should be cut and the liquid squirted into the baby's mouth and then washed down with formula. You cannot mix the CoQ10 with the formula as it will stick to the bottle and will not get into the baby.

My son went on CoQ10 at 6 weeks and started moving vigorously 2 days after starting it. We have no proof that it was the CoQ10, but it makes for a good story and he has been on it ever since.

Effects of CoQ10 are really poorly documented. Rumor has it that it improves alertness and increases activity. Rumor has it that it doesn't work for all kids. Rumor has it that it is more effective in infants than in toddlers.

All of my son's doctors know that he is on CoQ10. I guess that it is occasionally prescribed for muscle disorders and therefore they have all heard about it. Both his pediatrician and geneticist agree that it can do no harm. I was a bit suspicious about it at first. There was a paper published in the J of Pediatrics in spring 2004 that tested CoQ10 versus growth hormone. This paper legitimized CoQ10 in my eyes. The paper did not show an effect, although the investigators were only measuring growth and you would not expect CoQ10 to effect growth. I emailed the investigators and asked if they had seen a differences in alertness and milestones, etc. They responded that they were in the process of writing up the results for another paper, but wouldn't answer my question. The paper also boosted my confidence in Dr. Judy and Cyto-Med as a source because Dr. Judy was cited in that paper.

It is not clear to me how or why CoQ10 works or even if it works. There are no real studies on it. That said, rarely are there good studies on nutraceuticals. There just is no financial incentive to invest in a clinical study of something that can't be patented. While there is no proof that it works, it seemed to help my child and I am willing to pay for it ($10/month?) and go through the hassle of administering it. And, most importantly, the physicians I consulted agreed that it can't do any harm.

Update from November 2005. Our son is now 18 months old and we took him off CoQ10. We made the decision because we forgot to give it to him for several days in a row. We noticed no decrease in energy or activity. My son can't yet walk but he is a power crawler and constantly on the go. This didn't change without the Q10. So, who knows? We felt that it made a difference during his first year of life. When we would occasionally forget it, he seemed more sluggish...

This is PWSMom in 2012. My son is now 8. He takes CytoMed's CoQ10 and we notice that he has more energy when he takes it. At 65 pounds, he takes 2 caspules a day. He takes one in teh morning and one at night and it does not disturb his sleep. The only CoQ10 he has ever taken is Dr. Judy's from CytoMed. There may be other forms that are better. I don't know. I am pleased, however, with the effects that we see from Dr. Judy's form. My son is highly verbal and he can express the fact that he has more energy when taking the CoQ10.

Reasons not to take Coq10

I have read the latest post re. CoQ10 and the research that has been done. This post is titled "Further clarification for absorption of CoQ10" and Dr. Judy states that "SIBR Research, Inc. conducts approximately 9 studies per year"... herein lies one of my biggest problems: What Dr. Judy doesn't tell you is that HE is the Senior Scientist for SIBR Research, Inc., and in fact, Dr. Judy and his wife are the sole principal partners of this corporation, see the following link to the Florida Secretary of States office: http://www.sunbiz.org/scripts/cordet.exe?a1=DETFIL