Effects of Differing Nutritional Supplementation Combined With High-Intensity Aerobic Interval Training on Functional Exercise Capacity, Cardiac Function, and Quality of Life in Patients With Heart Failure and Reduced Ejection Fraction: A Randomized Trial.

In 30 seconds

This randomized trial compared two nutritional supplementation strategies alongside 12 weeks of group-based high-intensity aerobic interval training in 68 patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. Participants received either creatine, D-ribose, coenzyme Q10, and vitamin E or ubiquinol and D-ribose. The multi-ingredient group had significantly greater improvements across functional exercise capacity, health-related quality of life, left ventricular ejection fraction, and perceived exertion (P < 0.05). The largest reported functional measure changes were a 25.46% increase in peak VO₂ and a 19.88% increase in 6-minute walk test performance.

Key findings

• Compared with ubiquinol plus D-ribose, the multi-ingredient group improved 6-minute walk test performance by +19.88% and peak VO₂ by +25.46%.
• The multi-ingredient group had greater improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction (+40.94%) and health-related quality of life (-25.64%).
• Perceived exertion decreased by -38.53% in the multi-ingredient group relative to the comparator (P < 0.05).

Why it matters

The findings suggest that, during structured high-intensity interval training, the choice of nutritional supplement may be associated with differences in exercise capacity and other patient-relevant outcomes in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. The results are relevant to evaluating adjunctive strategies, but do not establish the effects of supplementation without training or whether these changes translate into longer-term clinical outcomes.

What to keep in mind

Both groups undertook high-intensity interval training, so the abstract does not establish supplementation effects independent of training. Follow-up was limited to the 12-week intervention.