A failing heart lives on ketones, not fat
Failing hearts lose the ability to burn fat. In order to sustain itself, the heart swicthes to burn ketones instead.
Heart failure is the inability of the heart to pump sufficient blood to supply the body with oxygen. It can be caused by factors including high blood pressure, a previous heart attack, diabetes or family history. Most of the treatments for heart failure are aimed at the later stages of disease.
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) hope they can uses their findings to help treat heart failure at its earlier stages.
“Our research shows that as the heart fails, it loses its ability to burn fatty acids–the building blocks of fat–and instead starts using ketones as an alternative fuel. It’s almost like the heart is starving because it doesn’t have the enzymatic machinery to burn fat anymore,” said lead author Dan Kelly, M.D., scientific director of SBP’s Lake Nona campus.
They found that failing heart had increased levels of ketone-burning enzyme BDH1. The enzyme is commonly found in the brain and liver—but it’s not commonly active in the heart.
“If we can prove that’s true in animal models, then we might think about ways to modulate this fuel switch in the early stages of heart failure as one of several types of treatments for heart failure,” Kelly said. “There is not going to be one magic bullet.”
