What is it about?
Methionine is required in canine diets but the recommended amount is based on relatively little evidence. The requirements we estimated, based on short-term exposure to different diets, was less than previous studies/approaches. To determine if the estimate we calculated would support dogs in the longer term, we fed it to dogs over 32 weeks and found it sufficient to maintain methionine availability. It is important to note that other diets have components that may increase demand for dietary methionine and we are not currently recommending a decrease in the current recommended allowance for all canine diets.
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Why is it important?
Technically, the paper provides evidence that short-term studies using a technique (IAAO) that measures breath analytes can estimate amino acid requirements that are supported by longer-term studies. With respect to methionine, there is evidence that some health benefits may result from lower levels of dietary methionine and this study provides evidence that, at least some diets, it is possible to reduce dietary methionine to 40% without impacting methionine availability.
Perspectives
I feel really proud of the team effort and different skill sets that went into these studies from everyone involved. For example, the short-term study required regular breath sample collections from our dogs. Our expert trainers worked in partnership with our dogs over many months before the study to get them to a position where they would reliably volunteer to breathe into masks. The effort and expertise were key aspects to providing the high quality data we needed to derive the estimate.
Dr David Allaway
Mars Inc
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Short-term determination and long-term evaluation of the dietary methionine requirement in adult dogs, British Journal Of Nutrition, February 2020, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1017/s0007114520000690.
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