Processing and pea-based dog foods: Maximizing starch resistance to improve obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular health and intestinal health

众所周知，肥胖、糖尿病、肠道健康和心血管疾病在人类身上有着密切的联系。饮食疗法被用来治疗和预防这些疾病，但饮食到底是如何起作用的还不清楚。此外，饮食对这些疾病的影响在狗身上的研究很少。我们预测，与用玉米、大米或大麦制成的食物相比，在狗粮中使用豌豆将增加狗狗的饱腹感，改善体重控制，减少糖尿病，并促进心血管和肠道健康。我们的目标是利用萨斯喀彻温省的豌豆生产商和当地的一家狗粮公司作为合作伙伴，将这种产品推向市场，开发一种具有已证实的健康益处的增值狗粮。狗粮通常以杂碎(挤压)的形式出售，挤压过程可能会增强或抵消抗性豌豆淀粉对健康的好处，具体取决于使用的条件。因此，本研究将首先研究不同豌豆品种、粒度和挤压条件对提高抗性淀粉含量的影响，并采用体外淀粉消化率测试方法进行测试。我们预测，一旦找到合适的粒度和挤压条件，以豌豆为基础的挤压狗粮将比其他碳水化合物来源的抗性淀粉含量更高，导致葡萄糖主要从上肠道吸收，血液中葡萄糖上升缓慢，并改善肠道健康。接下来，将考察不同的碳水化合物来源和加工方法对实验犬一次喂养后糖尿病和心血管功能的影响。最后，在一项长期的对照实验室试验中，以豌豆为基础的饮食将与最快消化的饮食进行比较，以评估对体重控制、肥胖、糖尿病、粪便输出、心血管健康和肠道健康的影响。狗将首先喂食控制数量的最快可消化碳水化合物食物4周，然后允许肥胖(3-6个月超量喂食)，然后以豌豆为基础的食物喂养4周。因此，该项目将通过提供更好的狗粮对健康有益的证据，帮助加拿大产品进入新的北美市场。

Obesity, diabetes, intestinal health and cardiovascular disease are known to be strongly linked in humans. Diet therapy is used for treatment and prevention of these diseases, but exactly how diet helps is not clear. Furthermore, the effect of diet on these diseases is poorly studied in dogs. We predict that using peas in dog food will increase feelings of fullness, improve weight control and decrease diabetes as well as promoting cardiovascular and intestinal health in dogs compared to foods prepared with corn, rice or barley. Our objective is to develop a value-added dog food with proven health benefits using Saskatchewan pea-producers and a local dog food company as partners who will take this product to market. Dog food is most commonly sold in a kibble (extruded) form and the extrusion process could either enhance or negate health benefits of resistant pea starches, depending on conditions used. Therefore, the proposed study will first investigate different pea varieties, effects of particle size and extrusion conditions to enhance resistant starch content tested using in vitro starch digestibility tests. We predict that once suitable particle size and extrusion conditions are found, the pea-based extruded dog foods will have better content of resistant starches than other carbohydrate sources, resulting in glucose absorption largely from the upper gut, slow rise of glucose in the blood and improved intestinal health. Next, the effect that different carbohydrate sources and processing methods have on diabetes and cardiovascular function in laboratory dogs after a single feeding will be examined. Finally, the pea-based diet will be compared to the most rapidly digestible diet in a longer-term controlled laboratory trial to evaluate effects on weight control, obesity, diabetes, fecal output, cardiovascular health and intestinal health. Dogs will be first fed controlled amounts of the fastest digestible carbohydrate diet for 4 weeks, then allowed to become obese (3-6 months excess feeding), followed by 4 weeks of feeding on the pea-based diet. Thus, this project will help tap into new North American markets for Canadian products by providing evidence of health benefits of a better dog food.