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Obesity Management Using Diacylglycerol and Low Glycemic Index Starch in Dogs

Obesity is the most common nutritional disorder in small animal medicine and is
closely related to the mortality and morbidity of various diseases. Decreasing the
incidence of obesity is considered to be the most important way to maintain health,
prevent disease, and contribute to longevity. Diet therapy using low glycemic index
starch (LGIS) and diacylglycerol (DAG) may thus be a reasonable obesity management
tool without unnecessary food restriction, forced physical activity, and impairment of
health. Beagles were prepared for a weight loss study by inducing obesity using a high
caloric/human snack food combination. These obese dogs were then fed diets containing
either LGIS/HGIS and DAG/TAG for a 10 wk weight loss period. The LGIS groups lost
more weight than the high glycemic index starch (HGIS) groups (2% vs 1% per wk) due
to lower total diet digestibilities. Even though the dogs had consumed similar amounts
of the diets on a weight basis, the amounts of metabolizable energy (ME) ingested
overall differed between the two starch types. Diet effects were found for plasma
triglyceride (TG) at both wk 1 and 8. Post-prandial TG lowering was observed only with a LGIS/DAG diet combination. LGIS groups showed less decreased post-prandial
non esterified fatty acid (NEFA) concentrations compared with HGIS groups at both wk
1 and 8. At both wk 1 and 8, plasma insulin was significantly lower in the LGIS groups
although glucose concentrations were similar among all groups. Plasma gastric
inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) increased in all groups but tended to be lower in the LGIS
groups. Significant time effects were seen in glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) at both
wk 1 and 8; however, diet effects were not observed. Plasma adiponectin concentrations
were significantly higher in the LGIS/DAG group vs. all other diet groups. Significantly
lower plasma leptin concentrations were found, especially in the LGIS/DAG group.
Combinations of LGI starch and oils decreased uncoupling protein-2 (UCP2) mRNA
gene expression in the small intestine compared with the combinations of HGI starch
and oils. These findings indicate that the LGIS/DAG combination beneficially supports
more efficient and healthy weight loss in dogs along with improvement in biochemical
and hormonal biomarkers. This combination may be preferred for healthy canine weight
loss and to help prevent obesity related diseases.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2008-05-10
Date16 January 2010
CreatorsNagaoka, Daisuke
ContributorsBauer, John E.
Source SetsTexas A and M University
Languageen_US
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeBook, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf

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