The study above was published in 2008 in American Cardiology a leading medical magazine. It is therefore surprising that many, many cardiologists have yet to recommend COQ10 to their patients. One of the main drugs recommended by cardiologists are the statin family of drugs. These statin drugs have been shown in study after study to reduce COQ10 levels to below optimal levels in nearly every patient that takes them. The statin drugs are taken by millions and millions of people to reduce death by heart attacks. However, in doing this they are reducing levels of COQ10 and very possibly causing deaths by heart failure. Coenzyme q10 is also beneficial in reducing inflammation one of the root causes of disease.

If you do not already have a diagnosis of heart failure testing your blood for your coenzyme q10 level is going to be expensive and may be unnecessary. But even without testing you can be pretty sure if you are 65 or older you have less that optimal levels and should consider taking coenzyme q10 for the rest of your life according to Dr Rowan MD a leader in natural medicine.

If you are already suffering with heart failure you can get a blood test which will give you your exact level. However it is expensive so if you do not yet have symptoms according to this study you have a better than average chance of having low Coq10 levels. You could bypass the expense of the test and just start taking a very high quality coenzyme q10 supplement.

Testing for Coq10 levels is pretty expensive so it is usually recommended only for those who already have a diagnosis of this disease. It seems prudent for people over the age of 65 to spend their money on coq10 supplements. As we age our coq10 production capability drops and the only source of coq10 in large enough amounts is supplements.

This is particularly true of the millions and millions of people who take statin drugs every day. You see statin drugs reduce the level of coenzyme q10 in your blood stream. This fact has been shown in study after study. Couple this with as you age your production of coq10 drops making people over 65 even more at risk.

Recent research followed 236 patients with chronic heart failure. The information from the study discovered that the patients’ level of CoQ10 in their plasma was an independent predictor of mortality. They followed the patients for an average 2.7 years. Their median CoQ10 levels during that time were 0.68 mumol/l. That’s much lower than the optimal level of 0.73.