If your heart doesn’t have the energy to pump properly, CoQ10 may be the fuel for you!
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a major fuel source for your body. It is a crucial component of the mitochondria that produce the energy needed for every cellular function. It is just as crucial for the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy of all your bodily processes.
Your heart works hard and requires a lot of energy. So, if you are low in CoQ10, that can dramatically affect your heart’s ability to pump.
Heart failure, or congestive heart failure, happens when your heart muscle can no longer pump blood as well as it needs to. That can be life threatening. Supplementing CoQ10 can improve your odds. By a lot!
Saving Your Life!
A disturbing 50 percent of people with congestive heart failure (CHF) will die within five years. A new systematic review and meta-analysis of placebo-controlled studies asked whether CoQ10 can prevent this and save lives for people with chronic heart failure. It looked both at their risk of dying from any cause during the studies and at their risk of dying specifically from cardiovascular disease.
The results were exciting! Taking CoQ10 reduced the risk of dying from any cause by a significant 36 percent. It reduced the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease by a significant 55 percent. This just published study suggests that CoQ10 could be a life saver for people with chronic heart failure.
All the studies used at least 100 mg a day of CoQ10.1
These exciting results are consistent with earlier research that found that levels of CoQ10 are a predictor of survival in people with CHF.
Congestive Heart Failure & CoQ10
Results like the ones found in that study are important for a lot of people. It is estimated that an incredible 6 million Americans suffer from CHF. CHF is usually the result of long-term high blood pressure, heart attack, heart valve problems, cardiomyopathy or lung disease. These conditions exhaust the heart, rendering it too weak to pump blood efficiently.
The most common symptoms are shortness of breath, especially when lying down; fatigue and weakness; swelling in the feet, ankles and legs; rapid or irregular heartbeat; reduced ability to exercise; non-productive cough; need to urinate at night; abdominal swelling; lack of appetite; nausea and diminished concentration and alertness.
For people suffering from CHF, the treatment goal is to improve the heart’s energy. And one of the best ways to do that is CoQ10.
Though one small double-blind study of people with class III or IV CHF found no benefit for CoQ10,2 several double-blind studies have found CoQ10 to be of great benefit,3-5 including an analysis of eight controlled studies.6 And now, we can add the new systematic review that found it can even save your life.
Many early studies, often in conjunction with conventional meds, found CoQ10 to be effective even at the low dose of 30 mg a day. In one study of people with mild CHF, 30 mg a day of CoQ10 led to improvement in all of them and a full 53 percent no longer had any symptoms after four weeks.7 The same low dose has produced improvement of at least one class in 50 percent of people with CHF and “remarkable” improvement in chest congestion in 30 percent.
Later studies, though, have used larger doses. A three-month, double-blind study that compared adding 100 mg of CoQ10 or a placebo to conventional therapy found the CoQ10 to be more effective than drug therapy alone.8 And a double-blind study that added 2 mg per kg body weight CoQ10 or a placebo to conventional treatment for a year to people with class III and IV CHF found that significantly fewer people on CoQ10 had to be hospitalized or experienced serious complications than people given a placebo.9
In a massive unblinded study of 2,664 people with class II or III CHF who were taking 50-150 mg of CoQ10 (most were taking 100 mg), 78.1 percent had improvement in bluish skin, 78.6 percent in fluid retention, 77.8 percent in pulmonary edema, 52.7 percent in shortness of breath, 75.4 percent in heart palpitations, 79.8 percent in sweating and 53.6 percent in nighttime urination. The CoQ10 was safe, and 54 percent of people improved in at least three symptoms: a significant improvement in quality of life.10
In a small study of people with CHF and low levels of CoQ10, a high dose of 450-900 mg a day (average 580 mg) improved ejection fractions from 22 percent to 39 percent and CHF class improving from a mean of four to a mean of two.11
In an important study of 420 people with moderate to severe CHF, either a placebo or 100 mg three times a day was added to standard therapy. Adding CoQ10 produced a significant improvement in CHF according to the New York Heart Association functional classification. But the news got better. While 26 percent of the placebo group experienced a major cardiovascular event, only 15 percent of the CoQ10 group did. And while mortality was 18 percent in the placebo group, it was 10 percent in the CoQ10 group, meaning there was a 43 percent reduction in death from heart attack or stroke.12
CoQ10 pioneer Karl Folkers reports that when 11 transplant candidates with CHF were treated with CoQ10, three improved from class IV to class I, four improved from class III-IV to class II and two improved from class III to class I or II.13
A meta-analysis and systematic review of 13 controlled studies found a 3.67 percent improvement in the crucial ejection fraction and an improvement of .3 class.14VR
Sources:
1 Kardiologiia. 2022 Jun 30;62(6):3 14.
2 Ann Intern Med 2000;132:636-40.
3 J Am Coll Cardiol 1992;19:216A.
4 Clin Investig 1993;71(Suppl 8):S134-6.
5 Mol Aspects Med 1994;15(Suppl):S287-94.
6 Ugeskr Laeger 1997;159:7302-08.
7 Jpn Heart J 1976;17:32-42.
8 J Card Fail 1995;1:101-7.
9 Clin Investig 1993;71:S134-6.
10 Mol Aspects Med 1994;15:s287-94.
11 Biofactors 2008;32(1- 4):119-28.
12 JACC Heart Fail. 2014 Dec;2(6):641-9.
13 Biochem Biophys Res Commun 1992;182(1):247-53.
14 Am J Clin Nutr 2013;97(2):268-75.
15 Food Sci Nutr 2020;8(4):1766-1776.
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Other Things CoQ10 Does
Because CoQ10 is a crucial source of fuel for every cell and every body function and because it increases your body’s antioxidants,15 it is not surprising that CoQ10 provides important help for several conditions.
Health Conditions CoQ10 Helps:
• High Blood Pressure
• Cancer
• Diabetes
• Migraines
• Cognition
• Parkinson’s
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Inflammation
• Periodontal Disease
• Male Infertility
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Linda Woolven is a master herbalist, acupuncturist and solution-focused counsellor with a virtual practice in Toronto, ON, Canada. Woolven and Ted Snider are the authors of several books on natural health. You can see their books at www.thenaturalpathnewsletter.com. They are also the authors of the natural health newsletter The Natural Path. The Natural Path is a natural health newsletter specifically designed to help health food stores increase their sales by educating their customers. The Natural Path contains no advertising and never mentions a brand name. Retailers can provide The Natural Path Newsletter to their customers. For more information, contact Snider at [email protected] or (416) 782-8211.
