The Evidence Based Plan for Extending Your Dog’s Life!
Here are 2 proven ways to extend dogs lives. Plus 2 supplements that could also help your dog live a longer healthier life. I will also add links to the Studies.
1. Calorie Restriction
- A 2002 Study showed that calorie restriction helped dogs live approx. 2 years longer. 48 Labradors were paired in a feeding study to investigate the effects of a 25% diet restriction on lifespan and aging markers. Each dog was paired with another, and from 8 weeks of age until death, one dog in each pair received 25% less food than its counterpart.
Some interesting data that came out of the study was that the control group weighed approximately 34kg most of their adult life and the restricted dogs were approximately 25kg. That’s a huge 9kg difference, or we could reword this and say that the control group were 36% heavier than the restricted group. Makes me wonder what the average healthy weight for a Labrador is.
Further to weight, they used a body condition score where 1 was severely emaciated and 9 was severely obese. The control group sat at around a score of 6.5 the entire time whereas the restricted group was at a score of about 4.5 until age 10 where their body scores started rising until death at a maximum score of just above 6. This is significant because it does show their metabolism slowing and possibly needing a decrease in food portions. It would be nice to see a study where dogs were fed to their body score as they grow from puppies and all the way through their adult years.
Other improvements the restricted group saw were later onset of Osteo Arthritis, Approx 3 years and Approximately 2 years later onset of any chronic disease that needed treatment.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11379719_Effects_of_diet_restriction_on_life_span_and_age-related_changes_in_dogs
2. Feeding Once per Day
A 2022 study found that feeding once per day was associated to better cognitive function and lower odds of having gastrointestinal, dental, orthopaedic, kidney/urinary, and
liver/pancreas disorders. The Study included over 10,000 dogs for the cognitive test and over 24,000 dogs for the health scoring. Although most of the data was owner provided there are some patterns that are interesting.
Dogs fed once a day were 41% less likely to get liver/pancreas disorders than dogs fed more often. That translates to 4 dogs (from the once-a-day group) would get the disorder for every 10 dogs, being fed more than once per day.
Gastrointestinal Disorders were also more common in the dogs feed more often. 6.5 dogs from the once-a-day group for every 10 dogs in the more than once group having gastro problems.
Although not as significant there were also improvements in dental, orthopaedic, kidney/urinary disorders. Overall, the findings are very positive for once a day feeding with many health benefits. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9213604/
New Research that could translate to life and health
extension in dogs.
Add Glycine Rich Gelatine
There are many studies, showing that methionine restriction can extend lifespan of many organisms including mammals. It has also been proven to help in weight loss for humans. But methionine is an essential amino acid and long-term dietary restriction of methionine leads to adverse events such as bone-related disorders and stunted growth.
Here is a possible solution. Glycine is known to clear excess methionine in the body.
Although there have not been any studies on dogs there have been on Rats and mice with a life extension of approximately 28%.
https://faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.528.2
Glycine is found in higher concentrations in connective tissue like tendons and joints. This makes Gelatine powder and bone broth powder some of the best natural ways to supplement a dog’s or human’s diet with extra Glycine.
Even if the above results in rats don’t translate to dogs, adding bone broth powder to their food will help keep their joints healthy.
Taurine Supplementation
Low taurine levels have been associated with aging and many age-related diseases. Supplementing with taurine has been shown to slow critical aging markers in humans, including heightened DNA damage, telomerase deficiency, impaired mitochondrial function, and cellular senescence.
Taurine studies have extended the life and health span of mice and worms. Plus extended the health span in primates. The interesting part of the mouse study was that they started supplementing the mice when they were middle aged, and they still saw an increase of 10 to 12% in life span. It is important to note that it didn’t help yeast extend life, so more research is needed for dogs and humans.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn9257
Conclusion- Calorie restriction and feeding once per day are very easy to implement and with the current data, they are definitely worth doing to give your dog a healthier longer life.
Gelatine or Bone Broth powder are safe supplements many people already give to their dogs for joint support. Now you can do it with the possible added benefit of health and life extension. Taurine is interesting however we are still waiting for solid data for our dogs and ourselves.
