Cats increase fatty acid oxidation when isocalorically fed meat-based diets with increasing fat content

Abstract

This study tested the hypothesis that sedentary cats have the ability to adapt to high-fat carnivore diets by increasing fat oxidation. Twenty-four hour indirect calorimetry was used to determine total energy expenditure (TEE) and macronutrient oxidation in six vasectomized male (VAS) and six ovariectomized female (OVX) cats isocalorically fed lower-fat (53% fat, 45% protein) and higher-fat (71% fat, 26% protein) meat-based diets at maintenance for 8 days. Fat oxidation increased linearly with fat intake with a mean slope of 0.91 g fat oxidized/g fat intake ( P < 0.001), with no change in TEE. However, VAS male cats were able to more precisely match fat oxidation with fat intake than OVX female cats ( P < 0.02). Body fat content did not significantly influence fat oxidation. These results demonstrate that cats maintain body weight during short-term isocaloric feeding of a high-fat carnivore-type diet in part by increasing fat oxidation commensurate with increases in fat intake. This ability may be an important mechanism underlying the resistance of cats to obesity, despite habitual consumption of high-fat diets.

Ontogeny and kinetics of carnitine palmitoyltransferase in liver and skeletal muscle of the domestic felid ()

“…This suggests that a high fatty acid oxidative capacity must be developed after birth, and sustained capacity is required given the relatively high-fat diet of the carnivore postweaning. Furthermore, studies with adult cats have shown a strong ability to increase fatty acid oxidation in response to increasing dietary fat [8].…”

The cat as a model for human nutrition and disease

“…These findings were supported when the EHC was used in combination with indirect calorimetry [35]. In addition, cats have also been shown to respond appropriately to increases in dietary fat content [59], suggesting that they are capable of adapting to different dietary components. This was confirmed in a recent 4-month feeding study [60] in which we were able to document that cats adapt well to changes in dietary carbohydrate content.…”

Effect of High Fat Diet on Insulin Resistance: Dietary Fat Versus Visceral Fat Mass

“…However, a large body of evidence suggests that FFA is also one of the most important factors to modulate glucose metabolism (9,10,12). Therefore we hypothesized that not only the increased visceral fat mass, but also dietary fat per se could be one of the independent factors to induce insulin resistance by chronic HF.…”

“…Chronic HF is also known to increase -oxidation in animal models (12,13), and inhibition of -oxidation by etomoxir increase insulin-stimulated glucose uptake (14). These results imply that dietary fat per se could be the independent factor to induce insulin resistance by chronic HF.…”