CoQ10 Strengthens Heart Muscle
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is found in human mitochondria, the energy-generating sites inside everyone of the body’s cells except mature red blood cells. CoQ10 has been in the spotlight recently because cholesterol-lowering statin drags deplete CoQ10 levels in muscle tissue, thus causing the common muscle aches suffered by many statin users.
CoQ10 has an effect in stabilizing cell membranes, a property that might have potential for influencing heart rhythms.
Arrhythmias commonly occur when there is abnormal weakness of the heart muscle (as after heart attack), a viral infection of the heart, or abnormal thickening of the heart muscle, which is common in elite endurance athletes and people with high blood pressure. Both situations are irritating to the heart and can make it electrically unstable and thereby generate arrhythmia.
Considerable data accumulated over the past 20 years shows that CoQ10 supplementation can benefit people with weakened heart muscles. When 30% or more of the main contractile chamber of the heart—the left ventricle—is damaged, congestive heart failure can result. In a study of 1,715 patients conducted in Italy, daily supplementation with 50 mg of CoQ10 produced substantial improvement in ease of breathing, edema, blood pressure, and palpitations (a subjective sensation suggesting arrhythmia). In another Italian study, 2,664 patients with moderate heart failure who supplemented with 50-150 mg of CoQ10 daily for three months saw similar improvements.
In a review of nine smaller studies that sought to determine whether CoQ10 supplementation improves the strength of the left ventricular heart muscle, the pooled data suggested modest benefit.
Whether CoQ10 reduces mortality—that is, reduces the risk of fatal arrhythmias—remains uncertain, as no study to date has specifically examined this question. Overall, however, the data are consistent in showing that people feel and breathe better, suffer less edema in the legs, experience fewer palpitations, and are able to exercise longer when taking CoQ10.
Most convincing is the evidence of CoQ10’s effectiveness in reducing high blood pressure. A literature review examining eight studies showed that CoQ10 supplementation, in daily doses generally ranging from 50 mg to 200 mg, reduced systolic blood pressure by an average of 16 mm Hg and cut diastolic blood pressure by an average of 10 mm Hg.
Additional data from researchers at the University of Texas suggest that CoQ10 may substantially regress abnormal heart muscle thickening, or “hypertrophy,” resulting from high blood pressure. Some but not all prescription anti-hypertensive drugs achieve this desirable effect. High blood pressure and its associated thickened heart muscle underlie several varieties of abnormal heart rhythm, especially atrial fibrillation.
Only a limited number of studies specifically examine whether CoQ10 reduces abnormal rhythms, in addition to strengthening heart muscle and regressing heart thickness. In a small Indian study, participants who took 120 mg of CoQ10 daily saw a dramatic drop of 25.3% in abnormal heart rhythms during recovery from heart attack, compared to a 9.5% decline in those administered a placebo. In a small Japanese study examining the effects of CoQ10 supplementation in 27 subjects with high blood pressure and diabetes, 24-hour heart-rhythm recorders (known as Holter recorders) documented a substantial decrease in the frequency of irregular ventricular rhythms.
A safe, effective nutritional agent that is virtually free of side effects, CoQ10 may help lessen the long-term risk of arrhythmias through its actions in substantially lowering blood pressure, regressing abnormal ventricular hypertrophy, and increasing left ventricular muscle strength.
It is not clear whether CoQ10 has a direct action in reducing arrhythmia or whether it simply helps correct the underlying conditions that lead to arrhythmia.
CoQ10 can be used as a preventive agent to lessen the likelihood of developing arrhythmias and as an adjunct to prescribed anti-arrhythmia treatments.