Tea Time for Fido?

Excess pounds can contribute to the development of insulin resistance, a prediabetic change, in many people. Obesity triggers changes in dogs that are "nearly identical to that seen in the obese human," notes Samuel Serisier of the Ecole Veterinaire de Nantes (France). However, a commercial dietary supplement derived from green tea can restore much of the insulin sensitivity in such animals, he reported today at Experimental Biology '07. a meeting in Washington, D.C.

Serisier's team recruited 10 volunteers. These obese canines had already developed insulin resistance, a condition where their bodies had begun to ignore the presence of insulin--a hormone needed to shepherd energy into cells.

For 12 weeks, six of the pooches received 80 milligrams of a powdered green-tea extract per kilogram of body weight along with their normal day's food rations. The daily supplement provided the animals a dose of catechins--a class of plant-derived antioxidants--equivalent to what humans would derive from drinking 3 cups of tea. The remaining animals received just their normal chow.

At the end of 3 months, insulin sensitivity had improved by 60 percent in the tea-supplemented dogs, Serisier noted; no change occurred in the unsupplemented animals. Green-tea-catechin supplementation had no impact on weight, food-intake, or body composition (i.e. percent body fat and lean tissue). Treatment was linkeed, however, with a 30 percent drop in serum triglycerides, fatty substances that can contribute to clogged arteries.

The findings would seem to offer a simple treatment to boost the health of pudgy pets. Better still, of course, would be to see that man's and woman's best friends get plenty of exercise and a low-calorie diet until they reach their ideal weight. Not only would that also improve insulin resistance, but also ensure that pet owners get off their duffs for a little extra, much-needed exercise.

Finally, don't attempt to treat your pooch with regular green tea. The brew is rich in caffeine, a compound that can prove lethal to dogs.