Pet cats may be excellent animal models for the study of obesity origins and treatment in humans, a new study of feline gut microbes suggests – and both species would likely get healthier in the research process, scientists say.
Ohio State UniversityJul 18 2024
"Animals share our beds. They share our ice cream. There are all these things that people do with their pets that highlight they are a naturally occurring disease model with similar environmental exposures as humans," said lead study author Jenessa Winston, assistant professor of veterinary clinical sciences at The Ohio State University.
"My lab is focused on how we can harness the therapeutic power of microbes," she said. "In order to do that, we have to understand how disease states may be different from health so that we can better try and figure out and target, mechanistically, changes that occur in the microbiome." The team found that the abundance of a short-chain fatty acid called propionic acid – shown in other mammals to regulate appetite, reduce fat accumulation and protect against obesity and diabetes – was increased in feces when the cats were losing weight on the calorie-restricted diet. Greater propionic acid composition was associated with an increase in the bacterium Prevotella 9 copri.
Obesity Bacteria Diabetes Fatty Acids Food Microbiome Research Veterinary Weight Loss
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