High Fat Diet Does Not Exacerbate Infarct Induced Heart Failure

Background The high incidence of heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases in the developed world has, at least in part, been blamed on the high fat content of the western diet. While studies have been performed with respect to hypertrophy, limited data exist on the effect of elevated fat intake on the response to infarct‐induced heart failure, particularly in mice. Methods and Results Six week old C57BL6/J mice were given free access to either a high fat (60% kcal from fat) or a normal fat (10% kcal from fat) diet for six weeks. Mice were then subjected to permanent coronary artery occlusion and were followed for four weeks with echocardiography. Surprisingly, after four weeks there was no difference between the two diets in terms of end systolic (Figure 1A) or the end diastolic volume (Figure 1B). Ejection fraction was also unchanged (Figure 1C), though a slight reduction in survival (Figure 1D) was noted in the high fat diet group. Conclusion We conclude that although there is an epidemiological correlation between a western diet and the development of cardiovascular disease, high fat diet alone does not exacerbate ventricular dysfunction in the context of infarct‐induced heart failure in mice. Funding: AHA – National, AHA – Great Rivers Affiliate, NIH – NHLBI – R01, NIH – NHLBI R01, NIH – NCRR – P20, Kentucky Science & Engineering Foundation