Supplemental data for Diet-induced cardiac dysfunction and impaired cognitive performance in Beagles
Description
Supplemental information on diet composition, fiber analyses and changes in dog weight for a study examining diet-induced cardiac dysfunction and impaired cognitive performance in Beagles. This study tested whether diet-induced cardiac impairment coincides with a lower index of cerebral blood flow and cognitive decline in dogs. Eight adult Beagles were fed four diets for 5 weeks each. A commercial dental diet was fed pre-study as a husbandry diet, followed by three test diets fed in a randomized crossover design: a grain-based diet formulated with rice flour (GB), grain-based diet with rice flour and 1% of the oligosaccharide raffinose (GB O), and a grain-free diet containing pea flour (GF). Cardiac function and brain blood flow were assessed using ultrasound, and cognitive function using a sand maze test. This supplemental data is meant to complement the main data of the study which will be published elsewhere. In that study, key findings were that reduced ejection fraction was associated with lower cerebral vascular tone and cognitive function in dogs fed GF and husbandry diets.
Files
Steps to reproduce
The study was conducted in a single blinded (evaluator was blind to dietary treatment), randomized (diets assigned by random draw), crossover design with 3 test diets fed over 5 week feeding periods. Dogs were fed twice daily with individually calibrated, isocaloric portions to meet their predetermined energy requirements. Portions remained consistent throughout the study, aside from one dog whose body condition score dropped one point during the first 2 weeks of the study while on the GB O diet, necessitating an 8% increase in portion. The dog’s weight was regained over the following 3 weeks and remained stable thereafter on the adjusted portions. All dogs were acclimated to the echocardiographic, brachial-artery flow-mediated dilation, and transcranial Doppler ultrasound procedures prior to the study. Pre-trial cognitive tests, echocardiograms and transcranial Doppler were completed before the dogs began the test diets. This study revisits echocardiographic data previously reported in Bokshowan et al. 2023 (doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1183301), which evaluated whether pulse-derived oligosaccharides were associated with changes in bile acid metabolism or taurine status that could be linked to alterations in cardiac function and found no such associations. Importantly, the major aims and hypotheses of that work do not overlap with the current work. Three test diets were formulated to meet the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) requirements for adult dogs using Concept 5 software (Creative Formulation Concepts, Pierz, MN, USA) and compared to the husbandry diet. The test diets were formulated with a 30% inclusion rate of either rice or pea flour, with potato flour levels adjusted to ensure the diets remained isonitrogenous. A grain-based rice diet (GB) served as the control, formulated with 30% rice flour. The control formulation was modified to produce the GB O by substituting 1% potato flour with 1% raffinose, the primary oligosaccharide found in pulses. The final test diet was a grain-free (GF) formulation containing 30% pea flour. To account for the high protein content found in pea flour, and to ensure that diets remained isonitrogenous, the GF diet contained lower pork and bone meal content, and greater potato flour relative to the grain-based diets (GB and GB O).
Institutions
- University of SaskatchewanSK, Saskatoon
Categories
Funders
- University of SaskatchewanSaskatchewan, CanadaGrant ID: Companion Animal Health Fund - Western College of Veterinary Medicine