The Heart Failure Policy Network’s initiative in the European Parliament (September 29) to increase awareness and improve management of this serious and highly prevalent form of heart disease is most welcome.
Even with modern cardiology and pharmaceutical drugs, the five-year survival post-heart failure diagnosis is only around 50 per cent. There is a limit to how much a tired heart muscle can be flogged to carry on working by whipping the kidneys to remove more salt and water from the circulation to lower blood volume and lessen the strain on the damaged heart, or to try and correct abnormal rhythms with pacemakers – at some stage everything will pack up, in some sooner than later.
In the US, some cardiologists, like Stephen Sinatra (a former professor at Connecticut University Medical School) have established the practice of so-called integrative cardiology, combining conventional therapy with complementary medicine. They argue that the little powerhouses, called mitochondria, in theheart muscle cells are exhausted and working sub-optimally in heart failure.
They claim that a combination of magnesium, coenzyme Q10, L-carnitine and D-ribose will energise tired heart mitochondria to work better and improve heart failure signs and symptoms, particularly so when conventional therapy is failing.
Sinatra has published a book, Metabolic Cardiology, explaining how integrative cardiology works. Some information on how to use the four food supplements he recommends is also available on his website.
A cautionary note about food supplements – there is no watchdog controlling their stated content. If one is using these supplements for heart failure, a reliable source is Life Extension Foundation of USA – they do have a European branch which supplies direct to your home.
There are two major problems with the above example of integrative medicine. One is that conventional medical schools do not teach integrative/complementary medicine, so most doctors know little or nothing about it.
This translates to the second problem – food supplements used in integrative medicine, which would be quite an expense long-term, are not funded by private or public health systems.
If the European Parliament’s efforts on heart failure are not going to tackle these problems, patients ultimately won’t get a fair deal.