David PerlmutterPresident,, Perlmutter Health Center · Board-Certified Neurologist | Functional Medicine Pioneer | #1 New York Times Best-Selling Author | International Speaker | Host of The Empowering Neurologist Podcast

CoQ10: An Important Supplement For Parkinson's Patients

13 Jul 2014 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

1:47

In this presentation, Dr. David Perlmutter highlights the inadequacy of standard Parkinson's disease (PD) medications, which he argues only alleviate symptoms without addressing the underlying neurodegeneration. He cites a study published in the Archives of Neurology involving 80 PD patients randomized to receive either placebo or high‑dose Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). Over a one‑year period, patients taking CoQ10 experienced a markedly slower rate of clinical decline—up to a 48% reduction in disability progression—while the supplement was reported to be safe and well tolerated. Perlmutter frames these findings as evidence that CoQ10 can act as a disease‑modifying therapy, offering both symptomatic relief and a means to slow PD progression, thereby improving patients’ quality of life and functional independence.

Chapters

Parkinson's disease is a debilitating condition that affects somewhere in the neighborhood of half a million Americans. And, you know, I see these patients every day and I ask them, what are you taking to treat your Parkinson's? And they list the various medications, at which point I tell them that those medications don't treat Parkinson's, they only treat symptoms. It's like treating the smoke with aspirin. while you ignore the fire. We really need to look at treatments that actually treat the underlying disease and can pave the way for slowing down the disease progression. And that is available to us. Let's take a look at this study. This study was published in the Archives of Neurology— that's put out by the American Medical Association— and looked at 80 patients with Parkinson's who were given either a placebo or Coenzyme Q10. And what they found was their rate of decline over a 1-year period The ones taking the CoQ10 was dramatically slowed. That coenzyme Q10 slowed their decline as much as 48%. Here's the conclusion: in our study, CoQ10 in the treatment at high dosages is safe, it's well tolerated, and reduced the worsening of Parkinson's as reflected in their disability score. This is important information. It is a way that we can actually treat the fire As well as treat the smoke, giving patients a way not only to feel better day by day, but also to keep them from becoming more disabled as time goes on. I'm Dr. David Perlmutter.