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Effect of n ‐3 fatty acid ratio and dose on clinical manifestations, plasma fatty acids and inflammatory mediators in dogs with pruritus
Author(s) -
Nesbitt Gene H.,
Freeman Lisa M.,
Hannah Steven S.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
veterinary dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.744
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1365-3164
pISSN - 0959-4493
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-3164.2003.00328.x
Subject(s) - fatty acid , medicine , clinical trial , polyunsaturated fatty acid , chemistry , biochemistry
The use of n ‐3 fatty acids is often recommended to manage pruritus. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of various doses of n ‐3 fatty acids at different n ‐6: n ‐3 ratios on plasma fatty acids, clinical response and inflammatory mediators in pruritic dogs. After baseline assessment, dogs were randomly assigned to receive diets varying in both total n ‐3 and n ‐6 fatty acid dose and n ‐6: n ‐3 ratio. The total clinical score decreased significantly in all four diet groups after 8 weeks with no difference between groups. Plasma fatty acid changes generally mirrored the fatty acid content of the test diets, although alterations appeared to depend on both the dose of n ‐3 fatty acids and the n ‐6: n ‐3 ratio. In this clinical trial, which controlled dietary intake of fatty acids, n ‐3 fatty acid supplementation did not appear to have an added benefit on clinical signs over thorough clinical management.