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But what about long-term studies? Do they show
same marked improvement with similar treatment? In
short-term trials it was apparent that even high level supplementing with CoQ10 seemed to produce no ill effects. In order to determine if this is only true for short durations a number of long-term studies were conducted.
In 1990 observations were published concerning 126 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. Unlike previously noted studies this one followed
patients’ progress for six years. Long-term benefits from CoQ10 supplementing were noticed with no harmful side effects. Similar observations were made in a trial involving 2,664 patients treated with CoQ10 at levels up to 150 mg per day.
A 1994 study involving 424 patients with a variety of myocardial (refers to
heart's muscle mass) diseases. Among these conditions were
following: Valvular heart disease (pertaining to dysfunction of heart valves), hypertension, diastolic dysfunction (failure of
heart to properly refill itself with blood), dilated cardiomyopathy (group of disorders where
heart muscle is weakened and enlarged and cannot pump effectively) and ischemic cardiomyopathy (low oxygen state usually due to obstruction of
arterial blood supply). Patients were treated with an average of 240 mg of CoQ10 daily during their treatment period. They were then followed-up for up to eight years with an average follow-up period of 18 months. Overall results demonstrated measurable cardiac improvements in one month with maximum improvements at about six months. With continued CoQ10 treatment
improvement in most patients was sustained. However, discontinuing
treatment usually resulted in a decline of cardiac function with eventual return to pre-treatment conditions.
As always in
medical community many more studies will need to be conducted to determine
future of CoQ10 treatment. However,
research to date seems to support CoQ10 as a viable treatment for many diseases that are caused or exacerbated by inadequate production of cellular energy.
http://www.optimal-heart-health.com/coq10.html

Greg has degrees in science, divinity and philosophy and is currently an I.T. developer.