It’s no secret that a high-fat diet isn’t healthy. Now researchers have discovered a molecular clue as to precisely why that is. Writing in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Mitchell Lazar, MD, PhD, the Sylvan Eisman Professor of Medicine and director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues, describe that mice lacking a gene-expression-controlling enzyme fed a high-fat diet experience rapid thickening of the heart muscle and heart failure. This molecular link between fat intake and an enzyme tasked with regulating gene expression -- at least in mice -- has implications for people on so-called Western diets and combating heart disease. Modulating the enzyme’s activity could be a new pharmaceutical target.
