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# CoQ10 prevents pre-eclampsia in pregnant women
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/coq10_may_help_prevent_pre-eclampsia_in_pregnant_women/
- Published: 2009-04-04T11:36:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-20T15:46:01.000Z
- Description: In an Ecuadorian placebo-controlled trial, pregnant women took 200 mg of CoQ10 daily from 20 weeks' gestation; pre-eclampsia occurred in 14 percent of them against 25.6 percent on placebo. Researchers say more study is needed to explain how the antioxidant helps.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Vitamins, Nutrition, CoQ10, Pre-Eclampsia, #vivvo-import

Saturday April 4, 2009 (foodconsumer.org) -- Pregnant women with a predisposition for pre-eclampsia during pregnancy have a new weapon to fight the onset of the condition: CoQ10\. A study, led by Central University of Ecuador and the Hospital Gineco Obstetrico Isidro Ayora in Ecuador, concluded that the co-enzyme can significantly reduce the likelihood of pre-eclampsia in pregnant women.

Pre-eclampsia has long been cited as one of the most common complications for expectant women. It occurs when a pregnant woman’s blood pressure rises to the point of hypertension; at this point, too much protein is excreted in the urine and swelling takes place. The risks associated with pregnancy have been radically reduced over the last few decades; however, pre-eclampsia still claims 60,000 lives worldwide each year.

The study was conducted in a placebo-controlled trial, wherein a sampling of 200 pregnant women were given 200 mg of CoQ10 per day, starting at 20 weeks gestation. The other group was given a placebo. The differences were significant. The pre-eclampsia rate among the women receiving the placebo was 25.6%, while that among the CoQ10 group was 14%.

How does CoQ10 prevent pre-eclampsia? The disorder has long been held to be, at least partially, the result of oxidative stress in pregnant women. As a result of this finding, studies involving Vitamin C and E intake by pregnant women were conducted; however, according to a report from the New England Journal of Medicine, Vitamins C and E had virtually no effect on the incidence of pre-eclampsia in pregnant women. Clearly there is more to consider.

While the antioxidant properties of CoQ10 certainly are likely to help prevent the condition, researchers say that further study is necessary to discover another “x” factor that is helping the co-enzyme fight the bane of pregnant women everywhere.

(By Rachel Stockton, and edited by Heather Kelley)