328 Targeting food formulation considering nutrient intake

Abstract

Abstract Since the last publication of NRC (2006), dog and cat nutritionists have a good starting point to formulate pet food, once the Committee included the “recommended allowances” (RA) in the nutrient requirement tables, both expressed per dry matter (DM) or food metabolizable energy (ME). According to the Committee, the RA means “…where applicable, includes a safety factor for nutrients with uncertain bioavailability.” This is certainly important for many situations, but does not solve all concerns related to achieve a complete nutrient supply for a specific individual. This presentation will discuss the implications of the wide diversity of animals’ energy requirements, and consequently food and nutrient consumption that dogs and cats may experience along their life cycle and housing conditions. Thus, Diet Diversity, or products with diverse energy and nutrient densities, is important to drive veterinarians and nutritionists to the better food selection to fulfill nutrient requirements of specific individuals. Although data from NRC (2006) based on food ME correct distortions of DM intake related to available energy content of diets, this approach does not correct for the diversity of energy requirement among individuals, as well known for dogs (Bermingham et al., 2014) and cats (Bermingham et al., 2010). The problem is reinforced by the value assumed by NRC (2006) to estimate energy intake in adult dogs (130k cal/kg 0.75/day) and cats (100k cal/kg 0.67/day), far distant from the real energy expenditure of several (maybe most) home-living animals. A meta-analysis study showed that the NRC (2006) equation quite substantially overestimated energy requirements and food intake for cats under 4.5 kg of BW. House-living dogs (Thes et al., 2016) may need only 98k cal (per kg 0.75/day) when in ideal body condition to keep BW constant, while 120k cal when lean, and 86k cal when obese. The substantial variation among individuals is also important; considering the obese dogs group, for example, the 25% quartile value was lower (62k cal) than the 75% quartile (105k cal), showing that to achieve the adequate nutrient intake for obese animals with low energy requirement might be a challenge, due to the low DM intake (Thes et al., 2016). Based on the clinical experience of the presenter, managing a clinical nutrition service inside a teaching veterinary hospital, and a research experience with energy metabolism of cats and dogs, the presentation will explore the implications of energy requirements on nutrient intake, and how to better address NRC standards in practical formulations.