Many of you have heard me speak of the value of CoQ10 in congestive heart failure. Belardinelli and others gave additional documentation recently in a paper published in the European heart Journal.(1)
Recognizing the natural decline in plasma coenzyme Q10 with age and failing hearts, the authors set up a study to determine whether this could be improved by oral CoQ10 to improve both cardio circulatory efficiency and endothelial function.
They studied 23 patients (20 men, three women, mean age 59±9 years) with stable congestive heart failure secondary to coronary artery disease. A double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over design was used.
Patients were assigned to each of the following treatments: oral CoQ10 (100 mg three times daily), CoQ10 plus supervised exercise training (ET) five times a week), placebo, and placebo plus ET. Each phase lasted 4 weeks. Both peak O2 take-up and endothelium-dependent dilation of the brachial artery (EDDBA) improved significantly after CoQ10 and after ET as compared with placebo. CoQ10 supplementation resulted in a four-fold increase in plasma CoQ10 level, whereas the combination with ET further increased it. No side effects were reported with CoQ10.
The authors concluded that supplemental CoQ10 improves functional capacity, endothelial function, and left ventricular contractility in congestive heart failure without any side effects. The combination of CoQ10 and ET resulted in higher plasma CoQ10 levels and more pronounced effects on all the above-mentioned parameters.
I cite this study to support my beliefs concerning CoQ10 supplementation by those currently taking or proposing to take statin drugs of any kind. Crestor use can be associated with an up to 50% reduction in cholesterol synthesis and the other brands such as Lipitor and Zocor often give cholesterol reductions of over 40%.
In my own case using Lipitor, 10mg daily, my cholesterol plunged from 275 to 150 in a matter of a few short weeks.
Statin drugs work by inhibition of the reductase step of the mevalonate path, which unfortunately is at the very beginning of this branching tree of biochemical reactions. In effect, it girds the tree to achieve cholesterol reduction. I want to emphasize that with this dramatic effect on the mevalonate pathway to achieve decreased cholesterol synthesis, comparable reductions in CoQ10 are inevitable for it is just another branch of the tree.
If by some miracle the anti-inflammatory effect of statin drugs could be achieved by a different biochemical mechanism than mevalonate pathway manipulation I might never have had reason to write my Lipitor, Thief of Memory and Statin Drugs Side Effect books. Nearly all of the serious side effects of statin drugs are caused by this collateral damage to vital biochemical components of the mevalonate pathway.
Dr. Peter Langsjoen, a cardiologist in Tyler, Texas has been researching for years the effects of CoQ10 supplementation in his statin associated congestive heart failure patients and has published widely on this subject (2).
(1) Belardinelli R and others. Coenzyme Q10 and exercise training in chronic heart failure. European Heart Journal, July 2006
(2) Langsjoen PH, Langsjoen AM. Overview of the use of CoQ10 in Heart Disease. Cardiovascular Disease Biofactors 9:273-85, 1999
Duane Graveline MD MPH
Former USAF Flight Surgeon
Former NASA Astronaut
Retired Family Doctor
