Nutritional and Environmental Influences on Cardiac Metabolism and Performance

The prevalence of obesity and type ii diabetes is rapidly increasing worldwide. It is increasingly being acknowledged that there is a close link between these systemic metabolic diseases and cardiovascular disease. In the present chapter the current knowledge regarding the short- and long-term influences of the metabolic environment on the transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation of cardiac metabolism and cardiac disease progression is being reviewed. The focus will first be on the effect of relatively short-term variations in nutritional environment (diurnal changes, feeding and fasting, exercise) on cardiac metabolism. Thereafter, the more long-term effects of metabolic derangements, associated with obesity and diabetes, are being discussed. Finally, attention is being paid to dietary interventions as a means to treat cardiac disease.