Coenzyme Q10 is a natural supplement that has been found to have many health benefits. Recent research has shown that the use of Coenzyme Q10 has been found to improve survival in patients who are suffering from heart failure, in which the heart fails to pump adequately.A recent study from the European Journal of Heart Failure showed that people who take in Coenzyme Q10 and who have heart failure will have fewer hospitalizations and a decreased rate of death compared to heart failure patients who don’t take the supplement. The study showed that taking Coenzyme Q10 lasted ten years long and tested patients with moderate to severe heart failure. The results showed that those who took about 100 mg of Coenzyme Q10 three times per day had the following outcomes:
- They were less likely to die from any medical cause
- They were less likely to die from heart failure
- They were less likely to have any type of cardiac event, such as a heart attack.
Blood markers for heart failure decreased after just three months of taking Coenzyme Q10. The heart didn’t have to work as hard and, after two years, the patients who took the supplement had better measurements of the heart functionality when compared to those who took a placebo.
Heart Bioenergetics
While most people know of the condition of heart failure, few people really understand what that means.
In heart failure, the heart doesn’t stop beating but instead is unable to adequately pump the blood to the peripheral organs and has to work harder to get blood flowing. Think about it. The heart works 24 hours a day for your whole life, contracting and relaxing every second in order to pump enough blood to every organ in the body. This much effort on the part of the heart needs an ongoing supply of energy. Much of this energy comes from glucose and fatty acids. The mitochondria of the heart muscles must put out a regular supply of energy from the food we eat. This is a process known as heart bioenergetics.
The mitochondria do not do this process all by themselves. They need to be maintained properly so that they can do their job.
Coenzyme Q10, as it turns out, is vital to the heart in order to maintain an adequate energy balance.
When Coenzyme Q10 levels are too low, the heart muscle’s mitochondria don’t burn fuel as efficiently as they should and this results in oxidative damage to the cell organelles and a loss in the heart’s fuel efficiency, resulting in heart failure.
People with heart failure have a lower level of Coenzyme Q10 in their bodies. The lower the level of Coenzyme Q10, the worse is the degree of heart failure.
Subsequently, patients with heart failure and low levels of Coenzyme Q10 have double the risk of dying from their disease when compared to heart failure patients who have high levels of the supplement.
Facts About Coenzyme Q10 And Heart Failure
- Low mitochondrial energy management (bioenergetics) is at the root of heart failure and other diseases of the aging process.
- Many heart failure patients have a lower level of Coenzyme Q10, which is essential for the function of the heart’s mitochondria.
- Supplementation with Coenzyme Q10 can bring up the levels of the substance, improving the quality of life and extending the life of those who have severe heart failure.
- Coenzyme Q10 has also been found to help other aspects of heart function, including endothelial function, high blood pressure, incidence of heart attack, and the reperfusion of the heart following a heart attack.
- Aging results in a change of the biochemistry of the heart that can be reversed by taking Coenzyme Q10.
What this means is that, if you are suffering from chronic heart failure, Coenzyme Q10 might just be the supplement to take in order to prolong your life and improve the quality of your life by its action on the bioenergetics of the heart cells’ mitochondria.