Abstract
BackgroundThis study aimed to determine if obese cats undergoing energy restriction for weight loss would meet the National Research Council’s (NRC) indispensable amino acid and vitamin recommendations when fed a purpose-formulated diet. Thirty cats were placed into one of two groups; obese (BCS 8 to 9/9; n = 16) and lean (BCS 4 to 5/9; n = 14) and included in a non-randomized retrospective observational study. Cats were fed a veterinary weight loss food during a 4-week period of weight maintenance. Obese cats (O-MAINT) refers to obese cats during this period, L-MAINT to lean cats. After this initial 4-week period, the lean cats finished the study at this time and the 16 obese cats continued and were energy restricted for a 10-week period (O-RESTRICT). Analysis for dietary concentrations of indispensable amino acid and vitamin contents were performed. Daily food intakes were used to determine minimum, maximum and average daily intakes of individual nutrients for all three groups and compared against NRC 2006 minimum requirements (MR), adequate intakes (AI) and recommended allowances (RA) for adult cats.ResultsOver 10 weeks, O-RESTRICT cats lost 672 g ± 303 g, representing a weight loss rate of 0.94 ± 0.28% per week. Daily intake of the majority of indispensable amino acids and vitamins was greater than the NRC 2006 recommended allowance (RA per kg ideal body weight ^0.67), except for arginine, choline, crude protein, phenylalanine plus tyrosine and threonine. All O-RESTRICT cats had minimum, average, and maximum arginine intakes less than the NRC AI. Minimum daily intake of choline was below NRC RA for all O-RESTRICT cats and below NRC MR for two. All, except one, O-RESTRICT cats had a maximum and average choline intake below RA.ConclusionsAll cats remained clinically healthy and showed no clinical signs of deficiency. Dietary choline and arginine requirements of obese cats as well as health risks associated with low dietary intake during energy restriction warrant further investigation.
Highlights
This study aimed to determine if obese cats undergoing energy restriction for weight loss would meet the National Research Council’s (NRC) indispensable amino acid and vitamin recommendations when fed a purpose-formulated diet
Dietary choline and arginine requirements of obese cats as well as health risks associated with low dietary intake during energy restriction warrant further investigation
Previous research in obese dogs found the intake of selenium, choline, methionine and cysteine, tryptophan, total fat, magnesium and potassium to be lower than recommended allowances according to the National Research Council (NRC) when dogs were put on a weight loss plan with a veterinary therapeutic weight loss food [4, 5]
Summary
This study aimed to determine if obese cats undergoing energy restriction for weight loss would meet the National Research Council’s (NRC) indispensable amino acid and vitamin recommendations when fed a purpose-formulated diet. Intake of essential nutrients including indispensable amino acids, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals may be less, even though they are supplemented in purpose formulated weight loss diets. The objective of the current study was to investigate dietary intake of indispensable amino acids and vitamins in lean cats fed to maintain body weight, obese cats fed to maintain body weight, and obese cats undergoing dietary energy restriction for weight loss utilizing a veterinary therapeutic weight loss food and compare vitamin and amino acid intake with NRC recommendations
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