{"id":319,"date":"2011-10-12T16:47:39","date_gmt":"2011-10-12T20:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/?p=319"},"modified":"2011-10-12T16:47:39","modified_gmt":"2011-10-12T20:47:39","slug":"weighing-in-on-weighing-less","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/?p=319","title":{"rendered":"Weighing in on weighing less"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nutrition research reveals paths to weight loss and the secret life of fat<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Americans are getting fatter and so are their pets. Following rising trends in human obesity, nearly half of pet dogs and cats weigh too much, and it\u2019s taking heavy tolls on their health. Cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and other bone and joint problems disproportionately plague overweight animals. Nutrition clinicians at Cornell\u2019s Companion Animal Hospital are helping downsize this growing problem by creating knowledge and solutions that could help humans and pets reach healthy weights.<\/p>\n

\u201cObesity is the number one preventable health problem in veterinary medicine today,\u201d said Dr. Joseph Wakshlag, head of Cornell\u2019s nutrition and obesity management services. \u201cFood equals love; people give treats, pets get fatter. Education and prevention are the only real tools against obesity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Wakshlag\u2019s team of two resident trainees and one nutrition technician offers personalized nutritional support and weight-management planning for pets. Their clinical research has attracted sponsorship from Nestle Purina, a pet-food manufacturer that values new nutrition knowledge, resulting in three papers this year and several studies in progress.<\/p>\n

The first proved pedometers attached to bungee cord collars can accurately count a dog\u2019s steps and used the technique to show that dogs that walk more stay fitter. The second paper used their pedometer methodology to demonstrate for the first time that exercising dogs could help them lose weight, and determined how many calories dogs can eat per 1,000 steps of walking while still trimming down. \u00a0Dr. Wakshlag uses his findings to develop intervention plans based on dog walking to prevent canine obesity.<\/p>\n

The hospital\u2019s nutrition residents are expanding on Dr. Wakshlag\u2019s third study addressing a new finding that is changing the way veterinarians and human doctors look at fat.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorically people saw fat tissue as inert energy deposits,\u201d said Dr. Jason Gagne \u201909, second-year resident in the nutrition service. \u201cRecently we\u2019ve realized it acts more like endocrine tissue, releasing proteins called adipokines that activate the immune system and cause chronic inflammation. This can exacerbate many disease processes and lower insulin resistance, leading to diabetes. We\u2019re trying to learn which cells in fat tissue produce adipokines.\u201d<\/p>\n

First-year resident Dr. Renee Streeter studies how heavy hounds handle hidden health hazards from pro-inflammatory proteins. Her research compares dogs\u2019 adipokine levels to their body conditions and the levels of anti-inflammatory omega three fatty acids in their blood. While most adipokines increase with body score (higher is fatter) and harm the body, one kind does the opposite.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdiponectin is the single beneficial thing released from fat,\u201d said Dr. Wakshlag. \u201cUnlike other adipokines, it\u2019s an anti-inflammatory insulin sensitizer. An injection of adiponectin will make your insulin work better. When you\u2019re lean, you release a lot of it, when you\u2019re fat, you release a lot less. That\u2019s why you have to lose weight to become more sensitive to insulin.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the nutrition team\u2019s clinical trials, inflammatory responses decreased due to lowering levels of bad adipokines after dogs lost weight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile most adipokines fell, we were surprised to find that canine adiponectin levels stayed the same. Dogs have much more adiponectin than cats or humans, no matter if they\u2019re fat or thin. This may be one reason why dogs are less prone to Type-II diabetes than other species.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cornell\u2019s headway on the obesity battlefront owes its success largely to corporate sponsors investing in the future of healthy pets.<\/p>\n

\u201cNestle Purina has been phenomenally generous,\u201d said Dr. Wakshlag. \u201cThey funded our pedometer-based weight-loss studies, Renee\u2019s study, and Jason\u2019s entire two-year residency. Proctor and Gamble, who makes Natura Products, IAMS, and Eukanuba, recently stepped up to fund Renee\u2019s 3 year residency program, with plans to make this a continual position for the Cornell University Hospital for Animals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese partnerships meet the rising demand for nutrition knowledge in the private and corporate sectors. Two Cornell veterinary alumni– Dr. Kurt Venator \u201803 of Nestle Purina and Dr. Susan Giovengo \u201891 of Proctor and Gamble \u2013 helped make our residencies possible.\u00a0 These pet food companies know the value of having nutrition experts in hospitals and hope to help fight the obesity epidemic these future clinicians will face.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

—<\/p>\n

‘Scopes Magazine
\nOctober 2011<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nutrition research reveals paths to weight loss and the secret life of fat Americans are getting fatter and so are their pets. Following rising trends in human obesity, nearly half of pet dogs and cats weigh too much, and it\u2019s taking heavy tolls on their health. Cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and other bone and joint problems […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,5,6,8,13,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scopes-magazine","category-cats","category-dogs","category-food","category-medicine","category-research"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlyhodes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}