New research into the impact of diabetes on cardiovascular disease could benefit thousands of New Zealanders

Published: 30 June 2025

A researcher from the University of Auckland’s Bioengineering Institute has been granted a three-year A. H. Couch Trust Heart Foundation Scholarship to investigate how diabetes significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular complications – a move that could one day benefit thousands of New Zealanders’ health.

With more than 180,000 New Zealanders living with heart disease, and over 320,000 estimated to be living with diabetes, Phuong Bui will be examining the burden diabetes has on the heart, particularly the impact of diabetes on the heart’s energy system. 

Cardiovascular complications, including heart disease, heart attack and stroke, are the leading cause of death for people with diabetes.  

Phuong hopes her research will lead to clinical therapies that could reduce the impact of diabetes on the heart and improve lives. 

Her research aims to uncover how diabetes affects the heart’s energy metabolism, which is the process where the body converts nutrients into energy to keep the heart functioning. 

The heart muscle requires a continuous energy supply. To provide this energy, heart cells convert various fuel sources into energy, a function called ‘metabolic flexibility’.  

However, diabetes disrupts this flexibility, which impacts the ability of the heart to use energy to pump blood around the body. 

In some cases, people with diabetes develop heart failure due to reduced heart capacity to pump blood to meet their body’s needs. 

Heart failure impacts a person’s quality of life, including bouts of fatigue, weakness and shortness of breath and reduces their ability to exercise. 

Although significant advances in health care and medical technologies have been made in recent times, the disease remains a significant health and economic burden. 

Phuong’s motivation for researching the impact diabetes has on the heart is personal, revealing one of her family members is living with a heart condition. 

“My grandmother has been living with a heart condition for more than a decade. It’s really impacted her quality of life. It’s one of my main motivators in researching heart disease as well as improving quality of life for many others,” Phuong says. 

Diving deeper, Phuong adds: “By combining advanced experimental techniques with computational modelling, we hope to uncover valuable insights around how diabetes changes the mechanics of the heart muscle.”

Diabetes and heart disease

Diabetes is a condition that causes too much glucose (a type of sugar) in the blood. It occurs when your body has trouble making or using a hormone called insulin. 

People with diabetes are two to four times more likely to have a heart attack or stroke, than people who don’t have diabetes. 

The impact on Māori and Pasifika is even more prevalent, with Māori and Pasifika more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and heart disease. 

Phuong hopes that her research will have implications for the development of clinical therapies to reduce the effects of diabetes on the heart. 

A. H. Couch Trust legacy

The Heart Foundation and the A. H. Couch Trust are working in partnership to support promising cardiology trainees and researchers who are carrying out heart research in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

The A. H. Couch Trust was established in 1972 through the generosity of the late Arthur Herbert Couch after he survived a serious heart attack. 

“The investment from the A. H. Couch Trust will aid in understanding heart health on a deeper level,” Phuong says.