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Peer-reviewed veterinary case report

How starch type and feeding affect blood sugar in diabetic dogs

By Teshima, Eliana et al.·Published in Journal of animal physiology and animal nutrition·2021·School of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences, Brazil·View original on PubMed

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Original publication title: Influence of type of starch and feeding management on glycaemic control in diabetic dogs.

Species:
dog

Plain-English summary

Ten diabetic dogs were studied to see how different diets and feeding schedules affected their blood sugar levels. The dogs were fed either a rice-based diet or a sorghum and lentil diet, with some receiving insulin twice a day and others three times a day. The results showed that dogs on the sorghum and lentil diet had better blood sugar control when fed twice a day compared to those on the rice diet. This suggests that a sorghum and lentil diet, along with a two-meal feeding schedule, may help manage diabetes in dogs more effectively.

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Abstract

The present study evaluated the effects of two diets with different starch sources and two feeding methods on the glycaemic control in dogs with diabetes mellitus. The diets had similar nutrient contents (40% starch and 16% dietary fibre), one formulated with 46% of broken rice and the other with 42% sorghum and 10% lentils (as-fed). Ten client-owned diabetic dogs were fed with each diet for 2&#xa0;months, in a crossover design. Five dogs received NPH human insulin and food every 12&#xa0;h (feeding method 1), and the other five received insulin every 12&#xa0;h but were fed three times a day (feeding method 2). In feeding method 2, morning insulin was higher than the evening dose and dogs received the second meal after 4 to 5&#xa0;h of the morning insulin and meal. Parameters evaluated included insulin dosage, 12- and 8-h glycaemic curves, complete blood count, biochemical profile and urinalysis. Glycaemic curves were analysed by ANOVA with repeated measures. Glycaemic control parameters (fasting, mean, minimum and maximum glycaemia and serum fructosamine) and glucose area under the curve (AUC) were calculated and analysed by paired t test (p&#xa0;<&#xa0;0.05). In feeding method 1, dogs fed the sorghum-based diet presented lower mean (p&#xa0;=&#xa0;0.04) and minimum blood glucose concentrations (p&#xa0;=&#xa0;0.03), and a tendency to lower maximum blood glucose (p&#xa0;=&#xa0;0.06) and glucose AUC (p&#xa0;=&#xa0;0.08) than when fed the rice-based diet. When food was provided twice a day, the ingestion of the rice-based diet resulted in higher post-prandial glucose response than the diet with sorghum and lentil. In feeding method 2, there was no effect of diet on the assessed parameters (p&#xa0;>&#xa0;0.05). No differences in insulin dosage were observed between groups or feeding methods (p&#xa0;>&#xa0;0.05). Providing two meals a day followed by insulin administration associated with the sorghum- and lentil-based diet improved glycaemic control in diabetic dogs.

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Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33904623/