Dutch scientists: Food supplement helps with heart disease

Scientists in Denmark said an inexpensive food supplement helped reduce heart death among patients who had previously suffered heart attacks. The supplement, known as Coenzyme Q10, or CoQ10, plays a role in helping convert food into sugars that cells need to function. It is found in high levels in healthy heart tissue but studies have shown it decreases in patients who have suffered a heart attack, the Daily Telegraph said Friday. The study, conducted by researchers at the Heart Center at Copenhagen University Hospital, said of the 420 patients included, after two years, fewer had been hospitalized for another heart-related incident after taking CoQ10 and more of those patients were alive. "CoQ10 should be considered as a part of the maintenance therapy of patients with chronic heart failure," said Professor Svend Mortensen, who led the study.