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UI Study Finds Excess Fat Disrupts Heart Cell's Energy System

A University of Iowa study has identified how excess fat in the heart, a common feature in diabetes and obesity, can harm the cells’ essential ability to produce energy. Researchers believe the mechanism may contribute to the two- to five-fold increased risk of heart failure in people with diabetes.

The heart is the most energy-hungry organ in the body. Just like a combustion engine burning fuel to power the pistons, healthy heart cells consume fuel molecules to create the necessary energy to keep the heart pumping. This essential energy production takes place inside mitochondria, the self-contained “powerplant” organelles inside cells.

Although mitochondria in a healthy heart primarily use fatty acids as fuel, they can easily adapt to use other fuel molecules as needed, including glucose, lactate, and ketone bodies. Diabetes, however, reduces the heart muscle’s metabolic adaptability and causes heart cells to overuse fat as a metabolic fuel.

Read the complete article on the Carver College of Medicine site.