Supplemental data for Diet-induced cardiac dysfunction and impaired cognitive performance in Beagles

Supplemental information on diet composition, fiber analyses and changes in dog weight for a study examining diet-induced cardiac dysfunction and impaired cognitive performance in Beagles. This study tested whether diet-induced cardiac impairment coincides with a lower index of cerebral blood flow and cognitive decline in dogs. Eight adult Beagles were fed four diets for 5 weeks each. A commercial dental diet was fed pre-study as a husbandry diet, followed by three test diets fed in a randomized crossover design: a grain-based diet formulated with rice flour (GB), grain-based diet with rice flour and 1% of the oligosaccharide raffinose (GB O), and a grain-free diet containing pea flour (GF). Cardiac function and brain blood flow were assessed using ultrasound, and cognitive function using a sand maze test. This supplemental data is meant to complement the main data of the study which will be published elsewhere. In that study, key findings were that reduced ejection fraction was associated with lower cerebral vascular tone and cognitive function in dogs fed GF and husbandry diets.