Omega fatty acids
Nutrition plays an important part in the development of a puppy into adulthood. Care must be taken to be sure that dogs are fed proper nutrition to meet their developmental needs at the various stages of their lives. Nutrition encompasses the proper diet combined with vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that will help dogs fulfill their life span.
Dogs
Dogs have strict dietary requirements for certain polyunsaturated fatty acids (the omega fatty acids) that are important for maintaining skin and hair coat condition, reproductive function and tissue repair.
There is increasing evidence that omega-3 as well as omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids play important roles in mediating and regulating inflammatory, immune and aggregatory responses within the body. Supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids has attracted great interest in recent years,and subsequent veterinary trials, predominantly in inflammatory or immune-based conditions, have produced some favourable clinical responses.
The fatty acids which have long been considered essential in the diet of dogs and cats belong to the omega-6 series of polyunsaturated fatty acids. There is increasing evidence that omega-3 fatty acids are also essential fatty acids in mammals, although a specific dietary requirement in the dog has yet to be ascertained. Abnormalities due to dietary deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids have been difficult to prove, but sophisticated nutritional experiments have indicated that omega-3 fatty acids may be necessary for optimal brain and eye development.
Functions of essential fatty acids
Failure to provide essential omega-6 fatty acids in the diet results in poor growth, failure of sexual maturation, weight loss, poor wound healing, increased susceptibility to infections, hair loss and scaly dermatitis.
The roles of essential fatty acids in the skin and cell membranes have been the focus of most research on fatty acid function. In skin, linoleic acid is essential for maintenance of the skin's permeability barrier, and arachidonic acid is an important regulator of epidermal proliferation. Animals with essential fatty acid deficiency develop dry, scaly skin with increased transepidermal water losses and epidermal hyperplasia and hyperkeratosis. The coat becomes dull and brittle, leading to alopecia, and abnormalities in the lipid film lead to bacterial infection and pruritis.
Cell membranes consist of a bilayer of phospholipids and cholesterol with embedded proteins that act as receptors, transporters and enzymes. The phospholipid fatty acid composition determines the physical and functional properties of cell membranes and has important implications for cell integrity and growth, inflammation and immunity.
The 20-carbon polyunsaturated fatty acids found in cell membrane phospholipids are precursors of the eicosanoids(eicosa is Greek for twenty). These compounds include the prostaglandins, thromboxanes,leukotrienes and prostacyclins, and perform a number of key physiological functions. The eicosanoids are formed when physical and chemical insults result in the cleavage of the polyunsaturated fatty acids, through the action of phospholipases, and subsequent oxygenation by local oxygenase enzymes.
Requirements in dogs
Essential fatty acid requirements in dogs can be met by dietary provision of a-linolenic acid (omega-3) and linoleic acid (omega-6), since the longer chain polyunsaturated fatty acids can be synthesised through progressive elongation and desaturation of 18-carbon fatty acids.
Although there is no universal consensus on the dietary requirements of dogs for essential fatty acids, the nutrient profiles in the 1995 Official Publication of AAFCO (the Association of American Feed Control Officials) specify a minimum (on a dry matter basis) of 1.0% linoleic acid for dog foods and 0.5% linoleic and 0.02%.
Dietary sources
Dietary sources of omega-6 fatty acids include animal tissue and plant seeds, while cold water marine fish oils, animal tissue and plant leaves contain omega-3 fatty acids.
References
Bauer, J. E. (1994):
The potential for dietary polyunsaturated fatty acid supplements in domestic animals.
Aust Vet J, 71, 342-345.
Buffington, C.A. (1987):
Nutrition and the Skin, Proceedings of the 11th Kal Kan Symposium, pp. 11-16.
Kirk, R.W. (1991):
Nutrition and the integument, J Small Animal Practice, 32, 283-288.
Lloyd, D.H. (1989):
Essential fatty acids and skin disease, J Small Animal Practice, 30, 207-212.
Thank you for visiting our web site!
A pure natural product of Iceland