X-Message-Number: 8440
Date: Mon, 04 Aug 1997 08:25:38 -0700
From: Peter Merel <>
Subject: Dog Diet and Lifespan

Running through the mouse data Doug Skrecky kindly posted, it occurs to me
that there may be some value in performing such experiments for an animal
with a similar lifestyle to primitive man. Unlike mice, men evolved to 
catch, kill and consume great quantities of animal flesh. How can we expect 
a mouse diet to be a good model for this?

I wonder if any similar work has been performed for a corsairial carnivore -
for dogs, say? I'd be particularly curious about the effects of some of the
more popular carbohydrate-restriction diets on such animals. The Zone and
Atkins diets have a very similar effect in humans to extreme CR (drop in
weight, great improvements in HDL/LDL and triglyceride levels, improvements
in glucose metabolism ...) so it seems worth investigating their effects on 
a carnivore's lifespan.

Are there even short-lived dog breeds that could be used for this purpose? I
imagine that the smaller breeds would live shorter lives, but I don't know
if you can find any dog breed smaller than a chihuahua. A quick browse around 
my favourite search engines turns up only a flood of noise from pet-owners; 
does anyone know more?

Peter Merel

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