A new research study led by the researchers of Saint Louis University have reported to find that ‘keto’ diet or high fat diets exhibit potential to completely prevent, or reverse heart failure, which is caused due to metabolic process. In this study, researchers involved mice as an animal model and observed that when the mice underwent high fat or "ketogenic" diets, heart failure was evaded, indicating that this diet can completely prevent or reverse the heart failure. The research findings further suggests that higher fat and lower carbohydrate diets might be a nutritional therapeutic intervention in the treatment of heart failure.
Moreover, heart's myocardium necessitates significant amount of chemical energy that is stowed in nutrients to fuel cardiac contraction. However, impaired flexibility is related with cardiac dysfunction in conditions such as heart failure and diabetes. This study validates that mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC) expression is reduced in failing human and mouse hearts, which further leads to cardiac remodeling and dysfunction.
Furthermore, researchers also informed that heart failure can be prevented or even reversed by a high-fat, low carbohydrate keto diet, as diets with higher fat content and with adequate carbohydrates significantly enhances heart failure in mice with missing cardiac MPC expression.
McCommis stated, “Our study reveals a critical role for mitochondrial pyruvate utilization in cardiac function, and highlights the potential of dietary interventions to enhance cardiac fat metabolism to prevent or reverse cardiac dysfunction and remodeling in the setting of MPC-deficiency. Ongoing studies will seek to uncover the importance of ketone body versus fate metabolism in this process of improved cardiac remodeling”.
Researchers concluded that ketogenic fuels oxidation of fatty acids, which may aid in enhancing cardiac remodeling and performance.