More Fat Can Be Helpful For a Heart?

A very interesting study from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine came out a few days ago with some very intriguing results:

"The research, published in American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology, suggests that for a damaged heart, a balanced diet that includes mono- and polyunsaturated fats, and which replaces simple sugars (sucrose and fructose) with complex carbohydrates, may be beneficial. In a healthy person, the heart uses both fats and carbohydrates to obtain the energy it needs to continue pumping blood 24/7. Ideally, fats are utilized because they yield more energy. However, if a person develops heart failure (or suffers from ischemia – a lack of blood supply), the heart seems to prefer using glucose for fuel, because glucose requires less oxygen to produce energy...researchers previously thought a high-fat diet fed to animal models that have suffered a heart attack, would overload their tissues with fat, which in turn would have a toxic effect on their hearts. Surprisingly, the heart’s pump function improved on the high-fat diet."

Please do not run out and eat as many Whopper's with extra mayo as you can, more research has to be done. That said, this is very interesting, if not a little confusing for those of us that are not medical experts, since we're generally told to limit how much fat we eat. Should we all be consuming some more fats or should this just apply to those who have a heart damaged in some way? I urge you to read the entire article to get a fuller understanding.