A new study hopes to discover why diabetic patients are so susceptible to heart problems.
It is estimated more than 80 per cent of diabetic patients have heart failure.
Dr Kimberley Mellor from the University of Auckland said the study will be a step towards finding a new treatment.
"The treatment options for heart failure in a diabetic patient are not great, so that's really the big picture goal of this work, narrowing that down to this particular study. We're interested in how fructose sugar can impact on the heart."
She said the last part of the study involves human heart tissue from patients who have diabetes and patients who don't.
"We can directly compare how these fructose pathways are responding to diabetes in the human diabetic heart."
Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you