CoQ10 for breast cancer treatment

THE EDITOR: Recently the newspapers reported the passing of a disability rights activist as a result of breast cancer, the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in Trinidad and Tobago. While there are treatment options including surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, these approaches often have adverse side effects and high cost.

In the interest of the health of our citizens, I wish to bring to the attention of the Ministry of Health information about an alternative treatment option involving coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) an essential nutrient that has shown great promise. This is a substance made by the body that is necessary for the conversion of food into energy for the proper functioning of all cells in the body.

In our youth the body produces it in sufficient quantity but as we age, production of CoQ10 decreases. This is one of the main reasons many older people suffer from heart failure since the heart is not getting enough energy to pump blood throughout the body and why supplementation with CoQ10 becomes necessary.

Cardiologist Dr Stephen T Sinatra in his book The Coenzyme Q10 Phenomenon considers CoQ10 “one of the greatest medicinal advances in the 20th century for the treatment of heart disease.” Apart from its importance for the heart, there is evidence that CoQ10 has a dramatic effect on breast and other cancers. Sinatra reported on the work of Dr Karl Folkers and colleagues who conducted research on this subject more than 25 years ago.

In 1993, building on over 35 years of research into CoQ10 and cancer, these researchers used 390mg per day of CoQ10 which resulted in the “overt complete regression of the tumours in two cases of breast cancer.” In 1995, Lockwood and others also reported complete remission for three patients with metastatic breast cancer. [Progress on Therapy of Breast Cancer with Vitamin Q10 and the Regression of Metastases, Lockwood et al, 1995]

Noting the high-dosage treatment used by these researchers, Sinatra states, “When such high blood levels of CoQ10 were achieved, clinical regression of even metastatic breast cancer occurred. Amazingly, regression of both the primary tumour and the secondary metastases in these cases suggest the profound positive immunological activity of supplemental CoQ10.”

He believes that “although more research is desperately needed to explore the relationship between low levels of CoQ10 and the development of cancer, the use of CoQ10 as an adjunct to conventional and other complementary therapies is justifiable based on preliminary findings and biochemical theory. And when we weigh the risk/benefit ratio for CoQ10, we are looking at a cost-effective essential nutrient that is virtually free of side effects.”

Sinatra’s excellent book was published in 1998. Since then much additional research has been conducted generally supporting the efficacy of CoQ10 in breast cancer treatment. A review paper on CoQ10 in breast cancer care by A Tafazoli in the journal Future Oncology published in 2017 describes CoQ10 as “an antioxidant that can target the mechanisms of breast cancer tumour progression.”

The review concludes, “Numerous preclinical studies have demonstrated the potential benefits of CoQ10 as an anticancer agent against solid tumours including breast cancer.”

Therefore, based on the results of ongoing scientific research, I ask the Ministry of Health to explore the use of this very safe, relatively cheap and readily available essential nutrient CoQ10 in the treatment of breast cancer patients in TT. Women are especially encouraged to have discussions with their healthcare providers about the use of this essential nutrient in reducing the risk of breast cancer and improving their overall health.

STEPHAN GIFT

Professor Emeritus

UWI