Knockdown of SGLT1 further enhanced cardiac energy metabolism by XBW, while overexpression of SGLT1 reversed the cardio-protective effect of XBW, highlighting that SGLT1 is probably a critical target of XBW in the regulation of cardiac fatty acid metabolism.<h4>Conclusions</h4>XBW improves cardiac fatty acid energy metabolism to alleviate HF via SGLT1/AMPK/PPARα signalling axis. Here, SLC5A1 is linked to hydrops fetalis.