Does CoQ10 help your heart or your energy levels?
CoQ10 may be worthwhile in heart failure: several studies show fewer deaths and fewer hospital admissions. Discuss its use with your doctor if you have heart failure or take statins.
In people with heart failure, CoQ10 reduces the risk of dying by roughly a quarter to a third. Two independent analyses arrived at similar figures: a risk ratio of 0.58 in one and 0.64 in the other. The risk of being hospitalised because of heart failure also falls, to roughly half in the most comprehensive analysis. These are the strongest findings on CoQ10 available to date.
Walking distance also improves in most people with heart failure. On average, they covered 31.70 metres more in the six-minute walk test than the comparison group. Not all analyses reached a clear result, and the quality of the evidence ranges from low to moderate. But the direction is positive in almost every case.
The effect on the heart's pumping function itself is less clear. Some analyses see a small improvement, others do not. If you have a specific form of heart failure in which the heart becomes enlarged, there are preliminary hints that CoQ10 performed best here compared with other supplements, though that evidence is still very thin.
CoQ10 appears to be well tolerated. No increase in side effects was found in the available studies, although safety data were not always fully reported. For muscle pain caused by statins, a frequently cited reason to take CoQ10, the results are inconsistent and routine supplementation is not currently recommended.
If you have heart failure, discuss CoQ10 with your doctor. The studies on this were conducted in people who continued taking their standard medication alongside CoQ10.
This answer draws on several large summaries of studies in people with heart failure, including a Cochrane review. The findings on deaths and hospital stays are repeated across multiple independent analyses, which increases confidence in those outcomes. The researchers themselves rate the quality of the evidence as moderate, in part because some of the underlying studies carry a risk of bias. For the heart's pumping function, muscle pain caused by statins, and the risk of heart attack or stroke, the evidence is insufficient or conflicting.
Is coffee good or bad for your heart?
For most healthy adults, three to four filtered cups per day is associated with a beneficial effect on the heart and blood vessels. Pregnant women are an important exception: for them, the maximum is around two cups per day.
Is the Mediterranean diet really good for your heart, and why?
For people at increased heart risk, the Mediterranean diet is the best-supported dietary choice currently available. Both large studies in people and dozens of population studies confirm a lower risk of heart attack and stroke.
Do omega-3 (fish oil) supplements benefit my heart?
Fish oil reliably lowers triglycerides and can slightly reduce the risk of a heart attack in people with existing heart disease or high risk, but it does not demonstrably lower the overall risk of death. Always discuss its use with your doctor if you have a condition or are on medication.
How harmful is prolonged stress really for my heart?
Prolonged stress measurably increases your risk of heart and vascular disease, particularly through work-related stress (10–40% extra risk in large population studies). The effect is real, but smaller than that of smoking or high blood pressure.
Does reducing inflammation help your heart in the long term?
Targeted treatment to reduce inflammation, particularly with low-dose colchicine, measurably reduces the risk of serious heart events in people with coronary artery disease. Discuss with your cardiologist whether this is relevant for you, because not every drug works and there are safety considerations that require careful weighing.
What does long-term sleep deprivation do to your heart?
Chronically sleeping too little demonstrably increases your risk of a heart attack and high blood pressure, and genetic research makes it plausible that this is a causal relationship. Seven to eight hours per night is the zone of lowest risk: make sure you consistently stay close to that target.