If you’ve suffered heart failure, taking supplements of a substance called Coenzyme Q10 could make you more likely to live for longer. This is according to a new study, based on 420 people who were taking medicine to treat their heart disease.
When your wellness is affected by heart failure, it means that your heart isn’t pumping blood around your body as well as it should. It is usually caused by damage to the heart, like you would get from a heart attack, and heart failure can affect your wellbeing with breathlessness, tiredness, a phlegmy cough and swollen ankles. Coenzyme Q10 is a substance similar to a vitamin found naturally in the body, which people with heart failure have less of compared to other people.
For the study, participants were divided into two groups. The first group continued with their heart medications as normal and took a placebo pill, while the second group took 100 milligrams of Coenzyme Q10 three times a day on top of their regular medications. After two years, the results of the study revealed that about 14% of people who took Coenzyme Q10 had serious heart problems, compared with 25% who took dummy pills. Roughly 9% of supplement takers died, for any reason, compared with 17% of placebo takers. The study also found that those who took Coenzyme Q10 were less likely than people who took dummy pills to die of heart failure, or need to go to hospital because of their heart failure symptoms.
The design of this study is similar to that used in good-quality studies, but this research hasn’t been published in a journal, so it hasn’t been carefully reviewed by other researchers in the way that journal-published articles are. Therefore, you cannot be sure that these results are reliable, and you should also have certain reservations about Coenzyme Q10. Very little is known about this substance, especially with regard to whether if it is better than, or as safe as, existing heart treatments. Coenzyme Q10 is available to buy as a health supplement, but there is not enough evidence from this study alone to suggest it’s a good idea to start taking it if you have heart failure. Remember, you should always tell your doctor if you are thinking of taking any supplements.