High Fat, Low Carbohydrate Diet Limit Fear and Aggression in Göttingen Minipigs

Abstract

High fat, low carbohydrate diets have become popular, as short-term studies show that such diets are effective for reducing body weight, and lowering the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. There is growing evidence from both humans and other animals that diet affects behaviour and intake of fat has been linked, positively and negatively, with traits such as exploration, social interaction, anxiety and fear. Animal models with high translational value can help provide relevant and important information in elucidating potential effects of high fat, low carbohydrate diets on human behaviour. Twenty four young, male Göttingen minipigs were fed either a high fat/cholesterol, low carbohydrate diet or a low fat, high carbohydrate/sucrose diet in contrast to a standard low fat, high carbohydrate minipig diet. Spontaneous behaviour was observed through video recordings of home pens and test-related behaviours were recorded during tests involving animal-human contact and reaction towards a novel object. We showed that the minipigs fed a high fat/cholesterol, low carbohydrate diet were less aggressive, showed more non-agonistic social contact and had fewer and less severe skin lesions and were less fearful of a novel object than minipigs fed low fat, high carbohydrate diets. These results found in a porcine model could have important implications for general health and wellbeing of humans and show the potential for using dietary manipulations to reduce aggression in human society.

Effects of Three Distinct 2-Week Long Diet Strategies After Transport on Weaned Pigs' Short and Long-Term Welfare Markers, Behaviors, and Microbiota

“…Aggressiveness can be modulated via mineral intake, such as magnesium (45)(46)(47) and tryptophan supplementation (48)(49)(50)(51). Besides preventing agonistic interactions from happening, an optimal ratio of fat, cholesterol and carbohydrate can even promote positive non-agonistic social interactions (52). Stress levels and fearful emotions can also be decreased with a large range of feed supplementation: vitamin E (46,53), magnesium (47), tryptophan (48,(54)(55)(56), aromatic plant extracts (53,57), chitosan (58), and the ratios of fat, cholesterol, carbohydrate (52), and linoleic acid in the diet (59).…”

“…Besides preventing agonistic interactions from happening, an optimal ratio of fat, cholesterol and carbohydrate can even promote positive non-agonistic social interactions (52). Stress levels and fearful emotions can also be decreased with a large range of feed supplementation: vitamin E (46,53), magnesium (47), tryptophan (48,(54)(55)(56), aromatic plant extracts (53,57), chitosan (58), and the ratios of fat, cholesterol, carbohydrate (52), and linoleic acid in the diet (59). Finally, tryptophan has also demonstrated consistent effects in terms of reduction of aberrant behaviors, such as tail biting (49,60), as well as changes in exploration in behavioral tests (61,62).…”

The counterregulatory response to hypoglycaemia in the pig

“…Porcine c‐peptide and glucagon levels as well as human insulin were analysed using in‐house developed Luminescence Oxygen Channeling Immuno assays (LOCI) as previously described 15 . During the assays, a concentration‐dependent bead‐analyte‐immune complex was created, resulting in light output measured on a Perkin Elmer Envision reader.…”

Neurobiologie du comportement alimentaire : le modèle porcin en neurosciences comportementales appliquées à l’alimentation et à la santé humaines

“…Les premières études utilisant l'imagerie fonctionnelle pour décrire les réponses cérébrales induites par des stimuli alimentaires chez le porc ont utilisé la tomographie d'émission monophotonique au 99m Tc-HMPAO (technetium hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime) et la hypersucré, sur les compétences cognitives des (mini)porcs. Ainsi, Haagensen et al (2013Haagensen et al ( , 2014 (Farquharson et al 1992, Makrides et al 1994, ce qui est cohérent avec les résultats obtenus chez le porcelet par différents auteurs (Alessandri et al 1996, Goustard-Langelier et al 1999. Chez le porc, les acides gras alimentaires impactent significativement les concentrations en neurotransmetteurs (par exemple dopamine, sérotonine) dans le cortex frontal et le striatum (de la Presa Owens et Innis 1999Innis , 2000.…”