ArticleTranslational animal science2020
A commercial grain-free diet does not decrease plasma amino acids and taurine status but increases bile acid excretion when fed to Labrador Retrievers.
Article in Translational animal science, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Examining the Effects of Diet Composition, Soluble Fiber, and Species on Total Fecal Excretion of Bile Acids: A Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2021Pooled it
- Multiple Modelling Methods Suggest That Grain-Free Diets Are Not Predictive of New Owner-Reported Cardiac Diagnoses Over Two Years in the Dog Aging Project, Despite Owner Misclassification of Diet.Veterinary medicine and science · 2026Article
- Grain-Free Diets for Dogs and Cats: An Updated Review Focusing on Nutritional Effects and Health Considerations.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Review
- Gut Metabolome in Companion Animal Nutrition-Linking Diets to Health.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Review
- Different carbohydrate sources in dog foods supported overall health and cardiac function: an 18-mo prospective study in healthy adult dogs.Journal of animal science · 2025Article
- Whole pulse ingredient inclusion in macronutrient-balanced diets increased fecal concentrations of propionic acid but not total bile acids in healthy adult large-breed dogs after 20 weeks.Journal of animal science · 2025Article
- Postprandial Plasma and Whole Blood Amino Acids Are Largely Indicative of Dietary Amino Acids in Adult Dogs Consuming Diets with Increasing Whole Pulse Ingredient Inclusion.The Journal of nutrition · 2024Article
- Collaborative Metabolism: Gut Microbes Play a Key Role in Canine and Feline Bile Acid Metabolism.Veterinary sciences · 2024Review
- Article
- Amino acid digestibility and nitrogen-corrected true metabolizable energy of mildly cooked human-grade vegan dog foods using the precision-fed cecectomized and conventional rooster assays.Translational animal science · 2023Article
- Oligosaccharides and diet-related dilated cardiomyopathy in beagles.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2023Article
- Article
- Responses in randomised groups of healthy, adult Labrador retrievers fed grain-free diets with high legume inclusion for 30 days display commonalities with dogs with suspected dilated cardiomyopathy.BMC veterinary research · 2022Article
- Plasma and Whole Blood Taurine Concentrations in Dogs May Not Be Sensitive Indicators of Taurine Deficiency When Dietary Sulfur Amino Acid Content Is Reduced.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2022Article
- Longitudinal assessment of taurine and amino acid concentrations in dogs fed a green lentil diet.Journal of animal science · 2021Article
- Addition of dietary methionine but not dietary taurine or methyl donors/receivers to a grain-free diet increases postprandial homocysteine concentrations in adult dogs.Journal of animal science · 2021Article
- Clinical Findings in Healthy Dogs Fed With Diets Characterized by Different Carbohydrates Sources.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2021Article
- The Effects of 7 Days of Feeding Pulse-Based Diets on Digestibility, Glycemic Response and Taurine Levels in Domestic Dogs.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Grain-free diets tend to have greater inclusions of pulses in contrast to grain-based diets. In 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a statement that grain-free diets may be related to the development of canine dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). However, all dog foods met regulatory minimums for nutrient inclusion recommended by the Association of American Feed Controls Official. In some FDA case reports, but not all, dogs diagnosed with DCM also had low concentrations of plasma or whole blood taurine; thus, we hypothesized that feeding these diets will result in reduced taurine status from baseline measures. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of feeding a grain-free diet to large-breed dogs on taurine status and overall health. Eight Labrador Retrievers (four males and four females; Four Rivers Kennel, MO) were individually housed and fed a commercial complete and balanced grain-free diet (Acana Pork and Squash formula; APS) for 26 wk. Fasted blood samples were collected prior to the start of the trial (baseline; week 0) and at weeks 13 and 26 for analyses of blood chemistry, hematology, plasma amino acids, and whole blood taurine. Urine was collected by free catch at weeks 0 and 26 for taurine and creatinine analyses. Fresh fecal samples were collected at weeks 0 and 26 for bile acid analyses. Data were analyzed using the GLIMMIX procedure with repeated measures in SAS (v. 9.4). Plasma His, Met, Trp, and taurine and whole blood taurine concentrations increased over the course of the study (
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Registered trials
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