Efeitos da ingestão de prebióticos sobre a glicemia e concentração de colesterol sérico em cães obesos e eutróficos: revisão sistemática

Abstract

Sedentarism and low physical and environmental stimulation in companion animals have contributed to the increased prevalence of obesity and associated metabolic disorders. In this context, dietary fiber (prebiotic polysaccharides) has been used as an adjuvant therapy. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of prebiotic intake on blood glucose and serum cholesterol concentrations in dogs through a systematic review. The PICOS strategy (population, intervention, comparison, outcome, study design) was employed, investigating eutrophic and obese dogs (Population), treated with diets containing prebiotics (Intervention) in comparison with animals that received a placebo diet (Comparison), evaluating blood glucose and serum cholesterol levels (Outcome) in randomized parallel or crossover clinical trials (study design). Two independent reviewers searched five databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane) and gray literature (Google Scholar and Opengrey) up to July 2022. All studies returned in the different databases were exported to Rayyan software (https://www.rayyan.ai/) for selection of studies in conjunction with the Mendeley reference manager (https://www.mendeley.com/). Risk of bias was determined using the SYRCLE protocol (Systematic Review Center for Laboratory Animal Experimentation). The initial search returned 2,235 articles. Of these, 21 were pre-selected by reading the title and abstract before evaluating full texts. In the end, 8 articles remained based on the eligibility criteria. Qualitative analysis of studies indicated that prebiotic intake significantly reduced serum cholesterol concentrations (57% of studies), especially in non-obese animals (75%), but always within normal limits. Blood glucose levels, however, were not affected in most studies (71%). The risk of bias was generally considered low, and the absence/non-description of blinding was the main flaw. It was not possible to carry out a meta-analysis due to the heterogeneity of the studies. It was concluded that dietary fiber intake reduced serum cholesterol concentration in dogs, with little effect on blood glucose levels. However, more clinical studies are needed to increase the level of certainty of evidence for the findings.