Congestive Heart Failure And Coq10
By Greg Post, Thu Dec 8th
Since the 1960’s there have been numerous controlled clinicaltrials concerning the relationship between congestive heartfailure and Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). As its name implies CoQ10 is acoenzyme that is necessary for the proper functioning of othersubstances, one of the most important of which is ATP (adenosinetriphosphate). ATP is necessary for the production of cellularenergy. By proxy CoQ10 is likewise essential for this process. Clinical trials have attempted to study the relationship betweenCoQ10 and many chronic diseases including, but not limited to,heart disease, cancer and AIDS. But heart disease has gained themost attention; failure being one of theprimary subjects. Because heart muscle cells require so muchenergy to function and CoQ10 is at the core of the cellularenergy process it makes sense to suspect that congestive heartfailure might be linked to CoQ10 deficiency. With that theory inmind many studies like the ones that follow have been conducted.These trials have been presented in this essay in thumbnailformat. One early Japanese trial (1972) involved 197 patients withvarying levels of severity of cardiac failure. The studyreported significant improvement of cardiac functionsupplementing with 30 mg per day of CoQ10. Another Japanesestudy demonstrated similar results with 38 patients alsosupplementing with 30 mg. In 1985 a U.S. clinical studyprescribed daily supplementation with 100 mg of the coenzyme fortreatment periods of three months for patients with low ejectionfraction measurements. The ejection fraction is the measure ofthe heart’s ability to pump blood. A low ejection fraction is aclassic symptom of failure. Again, significantimprovements in heart function were reported. Other clinicaltrials followed prescribing the same level of supplementationwith similar results.
Studies in the early 1990s showed improvement for patientssuffering from ischemic cardiomyopathy (a low oxygen stateusually due to obstruction) with supplemental levels of 200 mgper day. Supplementing with 100 mg per day demonstratedimprovement for patients suffering from idiopathic dilatedcardiomyopathy, an enlarged heart syndrome of unknown cause. One of the largest trials of the 1990s involves 641 patientsrandomly divided into two groups. The first group received aplacebo. The other group received CoQ10 supplements. During theone-year follow-up period 118 patients in the placebo group werehospitalized for heart failure compared to 73 in the group thatreceived the supplements. All of the preceding trials were relatively short-term studies.The level of improvement among patients varied depending on howlong they had been suffering from some aspect of congestiveheart failure. Through the years
it has become increasing clearthat the greatest improvements were shown in patients that hadsuffered from their condition the least amount of time. In otherwords, the longer a person had been suffering from the diseasebefore he or she received CoQ10 treatments the less improvementwas demonstrated. People who had received treatments early inthe development of the disease showed the most dramaticimprovement often returning to normal heart function. Long-termsufferers received less relief and were less likely to return tofull heart function. Whatever the reasons for this disparity inhealth improvement, it demonstrates the importance of receivingtreatment as early as possible. But what about long-term studies? Do they show the same markedimprovement with similar treatment? In the short-term trials itwas apparent that even high level supplementing with CoQ10seemed to produce no ill effects. In order to determine if thisis only true for short durations a number of long-term studieswere conducted. In 1990 observations were published concerning 126 patients withdilated cardiomyopathy. Unlike previously noted studies this onefollowed the patients’ progress for six years. Long-termbenefits from CoQ10 supplementing were noticed with no harmfulside effects. Similar observations were made in a trialinvolving 2,664 patients treated with CoQ10 at levels up to 150mg per day. A 1994 study involving 424 patients with a variety of myocardial(refers to the heart's muscle mass) diseases. Among theseconditions were the following: Valvular heart disease(pertaining to dysfunction of heart valves), hypertension,diastolic dysfunction (failure of the heart to properly refillitself with blood), dilated cardiomyopathy (group of disorderswhere the heart muscle is weakened and enlarged and cannot pumpeffectively) and ischemic cardiomyopathy (low oxygen stateusually due to obstruction of the arterial blood supply).Patients were treated with an average of 240 mg of CoQ10 dailyduring their treatment period. They were then followed-up for upto eight years with an average follow-up period of 18 months.Overall results demonstrated measurable cardiac improvements inone month with maximum improvements at about six months. Withcontinued CoQ10 treatment the improvement in most patients wassustained. However, discontinuing the treatment usually resultedin a decline of cardiac function with eventual return topre-treatment conditions. As always in the medical community many more studies will needto be conducted to determine the future of CoQ10 treatment.However, the research to date seems to support CoQ10 as a viabletreatment for many diseases that are caused or exacerbated byinadequate production of cellular energy. http://www.optimal-heart-health.com/coq10.html
About the author:Greg has degrees in science, divinity and philosophy and iscurrently an I.T. developer.
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