Breaking new ground for
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CoQ10: A natural remedy to improve survival in heart patients. The heart’s natural source
ardiovascular disease (CVD) causes more than a quarter of all deaths in the UK, or around
160,000 deaths each year. There are an estimated 7 million people living with CVD in the UK and coronary heart disease is the UK's single biggest killer.
Conventional heart failure therapy focuses on inhibiting hormonal factors that are predominant in heart failure and which strain the heart. However, new research involves a natural compound, which is used to increase energy levels in the heart muscle.
The Danish cardiologist and researcher, Chief Physician Svend Aage Mortensen, from the Copenhagen Heart Centre, is very optimistic about this new approach, saying: “To include this new type of therapy is a paradigm shift in the treatment of chronic heart failure.” Mortensen has worked with coenzyme Q10 ever since the first clinical studies were conducted in Copenhagen in 1983. He is the lead researcher behind a groundbreaking international trial called Q-Symbio, which was recently published in the esteemed Journal of the American College of Cardiology, HEART FAILURE.
The research documents that coenzyme Q10 is able to improve symptoms and course of disease in
patients with heart failure. Patients who were given coenzyme Q10 had a significantly lower mortality rate.
Stimulates the heart Coenzyme Q10 supports cellular processes that relate to the energy metabolism. The heart is the hardest working muscle in the body and therefore its cells require the most energy. “This provides extra strength to the failing heart muscle,” Dr Mortensen said. “Results with other heart- stimulating drugs used in the treatment of heart failure have been disappointing.”
Fewer deaths A total of 420 patients with chronic heart failure participated in the Q- Symbio study, with each patient undergoing a total of two years of treatment.
Half of the patients were assigned to three daily 100 mg capsules of coenzyme Q10 (Bio-Quinone Active Q10), while the other half got the same amount of identical dummy capsules with an inactive placebo. The patients in both groups continued with their regime of medicine that is normally prescribed for heart failure.
After two years, there were 43 per cent fewer heart-related deaths in the Q10 group. In addition, there were 43
per cent fewer heart-related complications among the Q10-treated participants, including among other things hospitalization due to worsening of the heart failure.
Judging from the study results, Dr Mortensen suggests that coenzyme Q10 may play an important role as a future adjuvant to conventional heart failure therapy.
of energy All cells in the body use coenzyme Q10 in order to make energy that is needed for normal cellular functioning.
The body synthesizes the substance but the production of coenzyme Q10 within the body tapers off with increasing age and may also be compromised by disease.
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