Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Triglyceride levels linked to fat and sugar metabolism in healthy
By Gomez-Fernandez-Blanco, Carlos et al.·Published in Frontiers in veterinary science·2024·Department of Clinical Sciences·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Fasting triglyceride concentrations are associated with markers of lipid metabolism and glucose homeostasis in healthy, non-obese dogs in lean and overweight condition.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study looked at healthy dogs to see how their weight affected blood fat levels and other health markers. It found that overweight dogs had higher cholesterol and insulin levels compared to lean dogs, which could indicate early signs of glucose metabolism issues. The researchers measured various substances in the blood of 532 dogs and discovered that higher triglyceride levels were linked to increased insulin and glucose, but lower free fatty acids. This suggests that even non-obese dogs can show changes in their metabolism when they are overweight.
People also search for: dog weight management · high triglycerides in dogs · insulin levels in overweight dogs · dog cholesterol levels · glucose metabolism in dogs
Abstract
Serum triglyceride concentrations increase in dogs with obesity, which is typically assessed by body condition score (BCS), however little is known about changes that take place in non-obese dogs in overweight condition. Further, the associations of triglyceride levels with other markers of energy homeostasis are poorly characterised in healthy animals. The present study aimed to evaluate associations between both BCS and triglyceride concentrations with other markers of lipid and glucose metabolism in healthy, non-obese dogs, as well as to assess whether these markers change significantly in non-obese dogs with overweight as compared to their lean counterparts. Serum concentrations of cholesterol, free fatty acids, triglycerides, insulin, glucose and fructosamine were measured in 532 healthy, client-owned dogs, assigned either to 'lean' (BCS: 3-5) or 'overweight' (BCS: 6-7) categories. Generalised linear mixed models were used to assess associations between BCS categories, triglyceride concentrations and other variables, correcting for the effect of breed. Compared with lean dogs, overweight dogs had a greater serum cholesterol concentration (95% CI, 5.3-6.2 mmol/L or 205-237 mg/dL versus 5.1-5.4 mmol/L or 198-210 mg/dL, = 0.0032), insulin concentration (95% CI, 17.5-22.1 μU/ml versus 16.7-18.0 μU/ml, = 0.0374) and were older (95% CI, 4.0-5.3 versus 3.4-3.7 years, = 0.0005). Triglyceride concentrations were positively associated with fructosamine ( = 0.31, = 0.0012), cholesterol ( = 0.25, < 0.0001), insulin ( = 0.14, = 0.0030) and glucose ( = 0.10, = 0.0014) concentrations, and negatively associated with free fatty acid concentrations ( = 0.11, < 0.0001). However, there was no association between triglyceride concentrations and age. In conclusion, both BCS and triglyceride concentrations were associated with other markers of glucose and lipid metabolism in non-obese healthy dogs, amongst which those with overweight showed metabolic changes as compared to their lean counterparts. Triglyceride concentrations were associated with an increase in insulin and fructosamine concentrations that might reflect an early-phase impairment in glucose tolerance which, surprisingly, was concurrent with lower basal free fatty acid concentrations.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39296580/