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Microbiome-Centric Interventions for Pet Health Conditions
There is increasing evidence that gut microbiome dysbiosis is associated with heart disease.
A targeted nutritional intervention may work through the heart-gut axis to improve cardiac health in pets.
Putting microbiome science into practice for heart health
Microbiome alterations with heart disease in dogs
The science
Metagenomic analysis showed that dogs with preclinical myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) exhibit gut dysbiosis. The gut dysbiosis index increases in proportion to the severity of the MMVD, and is inversely associated with the abundance of Clostridium hiranonis, which plays a key role in the conversion of primary to secondary bile acids.1
Putting the science into practice
There is a complex relationship between microbiome health and heart health. Dogs with MMVD have an altered microbiome. The microbiota shifts begin at the early preclinical stage before the onset of heart failure, providing an opportunity to address heart disease through the heart-gut axis.
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Find out more
- Li, Q., Larouche-Lebel, E., Loughran, K. A., Huh, T. P., Suchodolski, J. S., & Oyama, M. A. (2021). Gut dysbiosis and its associations with gut microbiota-derived metabolites in dogs with myxomatous mitral valve disease. mSystems, 6, e001–1121. doi:10.1128/mSystems.00111-21