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Coenzyme Q10 Every day the some 100 trillion cells in the body work hard. They ingest and digest nutrients, remove waste, and reproduce. Healthy cells provide the energy that ensures that we wake up in the morning, get to work, enjoy different types of recreation, and make it to bed at night. To perform all the tasks that they must, cells create their own energy. The production of energy at the cellular level is commonly known as bioenergetics. Considering how active the human body is (remember that an average person uses 60 percent of his or her daily energy on base metabolism) we can see how important bioenergetics is. Bioenergetics is dependent on food because cells manufacture their own energy by burning the substances found in foods. To do this, the foods we eat are broken down into smaller and smaller components, which include a number of carbon atoms. Eventually, the bonds between the carbon atoms are broken down into the electrons that make them up. These electrons contain energy which is converted into a substance called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). One of the bonds holding ATP together has great energy potential. When it is broken, it releases the equivalent of 7,000 calories. This is the energy our cells use to keep us alive. A steady production of ATP is necessary because only about three ounces of ATP are stored in the body at one time; the amount that will sustain a strenuous activity, such as running as hard as you can, for about five to eight seconds. You can see then, that it is important that our bodies have the most efficient means possible to produce this valuable substance. Coenzyme Q10 is a key in the formation of ATP; if we are lacking in coenzyme Q10, we cannot produce ATP efficiently. Coenzyme Q10 acts as a shuttle, carrying important, energy-laden electrons and protons around the mitochondrion, to eventually be turned into ATP. Without this shuttle, ATP would not be created, and cells would not be able to create the energy needed for both everyday and special energy needs. According to a 1990 article in the American Journal of Cardiology, "Coenzyme Q10 is necessary for the mitochondria [components of cells] to perform their functions and is essential for human life." All of our cells must produce energy for us to stay alive, and coenzyme Q10 is an essential part of this energy production. It is thus logical that a deficiency in coenzyme Q10 in any of the body's cells would affect body functions.