Considering how hard the human heart works, it’s not surprising that it needs a continuous supply of fuel to run efficiently over the human lifespan. What is surprising, however, is its fuel preference and the rate at which it consumes these fuels.

The Department of Chemistry’s Joshua Rabinowitz, collaborating with colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, completed the first comprehensive, quantitative mapping of human cardiac fuel use, reporting that the heart preferentially and voraciously consumes fatty acids.