ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.

Sec. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1542484

This article is part of the Research TopicExploring the Nexus: Diet and Microbiome Dynamics Across Gut, Oral, and Skin of Companion AnimalsView all 5 articles

Effects of feeding Candida utilis-fermented pea starch on overall, metabolic and intestinal health of dogs and cats

Provisionally accepted
Priscila  Curso-AlmeidaPriscila Curso-Almeida1Marina  SubramaniamMarina Subramaniam1Matheus  CostaMatheus Costa2Jennifer  L AdolpheJennifer L Adolphe1Murray  D DrewMurray D Drew3Matthew  E LoewenMatthew E Loewen1Lynn  WeberLynn Weber1,4*
  • 1Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
  • 2Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
  • 3Department of Animal and Poultry Science, College of Agriculture and Bioresources, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
  • 4University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Pulse-based pet foods often contain peas or pea starch, which tend to impart a bitter taste.Fermentation increases feed palatability, but also has the potential to improve overall health.Therefore, the current study used the yeast, Candida utilis, to ferment pea starch for use in pet food and assessed health effects, focusing on metabolic and intestinal health in dogs and cats. Whole diets had ~30% starch inclusion of either C. utilis-fermented pea starch, unfermented pea starch, or a control corn diet fed over a 20-day period to beagle dogs and domestic cats. Complete blood count, biochemistry, adipokines, and triglyceride levels were assessed, along with fecal short chain fatty acids, microbial diversity and abundance to measure intestinal health. It was found that pea-based diets (regardless of fermentation) generally resulted in improved metabolic health by both species, indicated by lower plasma triglycerides, cholesterol, and leptin levels compared to the control corn diet. Additionally, the C. utilis-fermented pea starch diet improved dog fecal microbial diversity, while both pea diets increased richness and evenness in the microbial population and a larger Faecalibacterium population compared to dogs fed the corn-based diet. In contrast, cat microbiome could not be quantitatively evaluated due to poor fecal quality. Taken together, inclusion of pea starch improves metabolic and intestinal health after 20 days consumption in dogs, while fermentation of pea starch with C. utilis may provide additional benefit.

Keywords: Cats, Dogs, Pea starch, Yeast fermentation, Intestinal health, Metabolic health

Received: 09 Dec 2024; Accepted: 25 Mar 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Curso-Almeida, Subramaniam, Costa, Adolphe, Drew, Loewen and Weber. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Lynn Weber, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

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