Impact of fatty acid on markers of exocrine pancreatic stimulation

Chronic pancreatitis in dogs is typically managed with a low-fat diet. Human research suggests consuming medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) may lower pancreatic enzyme release compared to consuming long chain fatty acids (LCFA). Twelve healthy adult colony dogs were fed a meal of cod and rice with either 3% metabolizable energy (ME) fat (control), high MCT (25% ME MCT oil, 25% ME butter), high saturated LCFA (50% ME butter), or high unsaturated LCFA (50% ME canola oil) in a 4-period by 4-treatment crossover design. Serum concentrations of canine pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity, gastrin, amylase, cholecystokinin (CCK), cholesterol, triglycerides and serum activities of DGGR lipase were measured at times 0 (fasted), 30, 120 and 180 minutes post-prandial. Following a 3-or 4-day wash-out period, each dog was assigned a new diet and the process was repeated for all treatments.

Data was analyzed as a repeated-measures mixed model ANOVA. Post-hoc pairwise comparisons were run using Tukey-Kramer adjusted p-values. Shapiro-Wilk tests were used to evaluate residual normality. All statistical assumptions were sufficiently met. Statistical significance was defined as P