12 November 2012

Researchers from Université de Sherbrooke, led by Dr. André Carpentier, have made a breakthrough in the comprehension of the links between diabetes and the development of heart failure. The team confirmed that persons with diabetes are more at risk of developing heart failure because of a mismanagement of dietary fat.

“Diabetics are less able to stock dietary fat in their fat reservoirs, explains Dr. André Carpentier. Therefore, more dietary fat passes through the heart which becomes insufficient when using fat as a source of energy. Normally, the heart of a healthy person burns more glucose (sugar) than fat.”

The link between heart failure and the increase of dietary fat used by the heart was discovered by using a positron emission tomograph, a technique developed at Université de Sherbrooke.

In search of potential courses of action, Dr. Carpentier, holder of the IRSC-GSK Research Chair, is conducting studies to determine whether the increase of physical activities and the decrease of dietary fat could reverse the fat management anomaly and decrease the risk of heart failure.

The discoveries of Dr. André Carpentier’s team are published in Diabetes, the journal of the American Diabetes Association.

Source: Université de Sherbrooke