-Altered myocardial fuel selection likely underlies cardiac disease risk in diabetes, affecting oxygen demand and myocardial metabolic flexibility. We investigated myocardial fuel selection and metabolic flexibility in human type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), using positron emission tomography to measure rates of myocardial fatty acid oxidation {16-[ 18 F]fluoro-4-thia-palmitate (FTP)} and myocardial perfusion and total oxidation ([ 11 C]acetate). Participants underwent paired studies under fasting conditions, comparing 3-h insulin ϩ glucose euglycemic clamp conditions (120 mU·m Ϫ2 ·min Ϫ1 ) to 3-h saline infusion. Lean controls (n ϭ 10) were compared with glycemically controlled volunteers with T2DM (n ϭ 8). Insulin augmented heart rate, blood pressure, and stroke index in both groups (all P Ͻ 0.01) and significantly increased myocardial oxygen consumption (P ϭ 0.04) and perfusion (P ϭ 0.01) in both groups. Insulin suppressed available nonesterified fatty acids (P Ͻ 0.0001), but fatty acid concentrations were higher in T2DM under both conditions (P Ͻ 0.001). Insulin-induced suppression of fatty acid oxidation was seen in both groups (P Ͻ 0.0001). However, fatty acid oxidation rates were higher under both conditions in T2DM (P ϭ 0.003). Myocardial work efficiency was lower in T2DM (P ϭ 0.006) and decreased in both groups with the insulin-induced increase in work and shift in fuel utilization (P ϭ 0.01). Augmented fatty acid oxidation is present under baseline and insulin-treated conditions in T2DM, with impaired insulin-induced shifts away from fatty acid oxidation. This is accompanied by reduced work efficiency, possibly due to greater oxygen consumption with fatty acid metabolism. These observations suggest that improved fatty acid suppression, or reductions in myocardial fatty acid uptake and retention, could be therapeutic targets to improve myocardial ischemia tolerance in T2DM. myocardial; heart; diabetes; metabolism; metabolic flexibility; positron emission tomography ALTERATIONS IN METABOLIC SUBSTRATE uptake and metabolism are part of the phenotype that defines type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) (3,4,33,39,74). The phenomenon of "metabolic flexibility" is the capacity of an organism, a tissue bed, or a cell system to switch readily among fuel types. Impaired metabolic flexibility is another phenotypic feature of T2DM (33, 66).Impaired metabolic flexibility has been demonstrated in skeletal muscle in human diabetes (32,66). This whole body effect likely arises due to effects of impaired insulin-stimulated glucose uptake, together with abnormalities in availability, uptake, and metabolism of fatty acid fuels (33,66,75).The myocardium is also affected by T2DM. The fuel needs of the heart are dramatically different than those of skeletal muscle, supporting continuous work even under resting conditions. Abnormalities in myocardial fuel selection in animal models of diabetes have been described (42,54,75), including impairments in insulin-stimulated glucose uptake and impaired suppression of myocardial fatty acid u...