Effect of prior fiber consumption on diet-induced obesity susceptibility and metabolic health indicators in Ossabaw pigs

Abstract Text:

Sixty-three mixed sex pigs (28 d of age, 5.63 ± 0.20 kg BW) were used to evaluate the effects of dietary fiber source and fat level on growth performance, backfat thickness (BF), and metabolic status. Pigs were blocked by BW and allotted by sex and litter to 1 of 4 treatments with 8 pens per treatment and 2 pigs per pen. Treatments were arranged in 2x2 factorial with 2 fiber sources (inulin and cellulose) and 2 fat levels (5 and 15%, as-fed basis; LF and HF, low- and high-fat diets, respectively). Pigs received diets containing 4% of either inulin or cellulose on an as-fed basis for the first 56 d (nursery phase) and thereafter were fed LF and HF diets containing no added fiber source from d 56 to 140 (growing phase). On d 140, BF was measured by ultrasound and jugular blood samples were taken for insulin, glucose, and triglyceride (TAG) analyses. Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS. There were fiber x fat interactions for final BW (P=0.02) and G:F (P=0.01), as pigs receiving cellulose had greater (P<0.05) final BW (63.96 and 70.31 ± 1.15 kg for LF and HF, respectively) and G:F (0.136 and 0.157 ± 0.003 for LF and HF, respectively) when fed HF diet than pigs fed LF diet. Feeding HF diet, regardless of fiber source, tended to increase ADG (0.432 and 0.464 ± 0.01 kg for LF and HF, respectively; P=0.07) and reduce ADFI (3.184 and 3.013 ± 0.05 kg for LF and HF, respectively; P=0.07). Moreover, HF diet, regardless of fiber source, resulted in higher BF (13.41 and 18.18 ± 0.12 mm for LF and HF, respectively; P<0.01). There was a tendency for a fiber x fat interaction (P=0.07) for serum TAG concentration, as pigs receiving cellulose had greater serum TAG (0.264 and 0.392 ± 0.02 mg/mL for LF and HF, respectively; P<0.05) when fed HF diet than pigs fed LF diet. Pigs fed the HF diet, regardless of fiber source, had greater (P<0.01) insulin (0.014 and 0.016 ± 0.001 mg/L for LF and HF, respectively) and glucose (100.89 and 125.03 ± 4.39 mg/dL for LF and HF, respectively) concentrations in the serum. In summary, dietary cellulose inclusion during the early life of pigs increased susceptibility to obesity and metabolic syndrome in the future, whereas dietary inulin inclusion prevented future metabolic disorders.

Keywords: Early nutrition, fiber metabolic disorders, pig model