A protein- and fiber-rich diet with astaxanthin alleviates high-fat diet-induced obesity in beagles

Abstract

Background and aimsOverweight or obesity is one of the most prevalent health burdens in companion pets and predisposes subjects to multiple comorbidities and reduced longevity. Dietary management and sufficient exercise are effective options for weight loss but challenged by modern lifestyle and calorie control-triggered malnutrition. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a formulated obesity control diet characterized by protein- and fiber-rich diet and supplemented with astaxanthin. We systemically evaluated global influences of the designed weight-loss diet on metabolic homeostasis in an obese beagle model.Materials and methodsBeagles were induced for obesity by a 24-week HFD treatment and then included into weight-loss programs. Briefly, obese beagles were randomly assigned to two groups that were fed with a formulated weight-loss diet or control diet, respectively. Body weight and body condition scoring (BCS) were analyzed biweekly. Computed tomography (CT), nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements, and blood and adipose tissue biopsies were collected at 0 and 8 weeks. Plasma lipids and adipocyte size were also measured after 8 weeks of weight-loss diet feeding. The global influence of the formulated diet on the whole spectrum of gene panels were examined by adipose RNA assays.ResultsTwenty-four weeks of continuous HFD feeding significantly induced obesity in beagles, as evidenced by increased body weight, BCS, abdominal fat mass, and serum lipid levels. The obese and metabolic condition of the modeled canine were effectively improved by an 8-week weight-loss diet administration. Importantly, we did not observe any side effects during the weight loss duration. Transcriptional analysis of adipose tissues further supported that a weight-loss diet significantly increased energy metabolism-related pathways and decreased lipid synthesis-related pathways.ConclusionThe prescribed weight-loss diet exhibited profound benefits in canine weight management with well safety and palatability. These findings support effective strategies of nutritional management and supplementation approaches for weight control in companion animals.

Different Diet Energy Levels Alter Body Condition, Glucolipid Metabolism, Fecal Microbiota and Metabolites in Adult Beagle Dogs

“…During feeding, it was found that dogs in the Le group could consume almost all of the 32 g/BW kg/d food, while dogs in the Me and He groups had varying degrees of leftovers, which may have been related to the fact that dogs can adjust their food intake according to their energy intake. A similar finding was obtained by Xue et al [14], where adult beagle dogs lost 15 to 25% of their body weight after eight weeks of consuming a diet with ME of 13.54 or 12.93 MJ/kg diet, while no significant changes were observed after 24 weeks of consuming a dietary ME of 15.07 MJ/kg diet.…”

“…The content of LDL-C in serum shows a significant positive correlation with the incidence of coronary heart disease, and it is an important index to evaluate the risk factors of individual coronary heart disease [74]. In canine obesity modeling and weight loss trials, high-fat diets were found to lead to a significant increase in serum CHO levels, while low-energy diets led to a decrease in CHO [13][14][15]75].…”

“…In two studies, obese or overweight dogs with restricted energy intake showed decreased body weight and body condition scores (BCS) over two months [2,13]. Methods of energy restriction include changing the macronutrient composition, such as high-protein high-fiber diets [14][15][16][17] or high-protein medium-carbohydrate diets [18], and the use of nutritional additives [19,20] or high fiber or polysaccharides [21][22][23][24]. During high-fat-diet-induced canine obesity modeling, research showed changes in glucose homeostasis, the gut microbiota and the metabolome [25][26][27][28][29].…”

Preclinical Modeling of Metabolic Syndrome to Study the Pleiotropic Effects of Novel Antidiabetic Therapy Independent of Obesity

“…Previous studies have shown that consistent overfeeding of dogs with a high-calorie Western diet (WD) can lead to MetS, regardless of the diet's composition (Moinard et al, 2020;Xue et al, 2022). However, these investigations in dogs have primarily focused on the metabolic issues associated with obesity (Tvarijonaviciute et al, 2012b;Peña et al, 2014;Moinard et al, 2020;Sun et al, 2023;Vecchiato et al, 2023).…”

A Preclinical Model of Obesity-Independent Metabolic Syndrome for Studying the Effects of Novel Antidiabetic Therapy Beyond Glycemic Control

“…Previous studies suggest that consistently overfeeding dogs with high-calorie Western diets (WDs) leads to obesity and MetS, regardless of the diet composition (Moinard et al, 2020;Xue et al, 2022). Indeed, prior studies investigating the effects of WDs in dogs have primarily focused on metabolic dysfunction related to obesity (Tvarijonaviciute et al, 2012b;Peña et al, 2014;Moinard et al, 2020;Sun et al, 2023;Vecchiato et al, 2023).…”