Diet therapy, however, is typically based on limited calorie intake and animals may suffer stress from hunger and this is also a concern to animal owners.
For this reason, many clients drop out of weight control programmes.
In the present study, we focused on dietary diacylglycerol (DAG) as a potentially effective ingredient for canine weight control without caloric restriction.
We replaced a portion of the fat in dog food with either DAG or triacylglycerol (TAG), referred to as DAG or TAG diets here, and fed overweight beagle dogs (body condition score of 4 or higher) with either the DAG or TAG diet for a 6-week period.
Results indicated that, even though the food composition other than fat type were identical, dogs fed the DAG diet showed a statistically significant reduction in body weight averaging a 2.3% reduction within 6 weeks while the TAG-fed dogs maintained their obese body weights.
In addition, the DAG group also showed a reduction in body fat content, serum triglyceride and total cholesterol concentrations.
These results suggest the possibility of developing a pet food using DAG to control weight and serum lipid levels without compromising caloric intake.
Source: Umeda, T., Bauer, J. E. & Otsuji, K. (2006): Weight loss effect of dietary diacylglycerol in obese dogs. In: Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition 90 (5-6), 208-215.
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