New approaches to dietary therapy of GI disease

摘要

Dietary therapy is an important aspect of the management of gastrointestinal (GI) disease in dogs and cats. Dietary intervention has been accepted for a wide variety of GI disturbances, and although there are many commercially available products, there is very little data to support the specific use of these diets in particular disease situations. Nevertheless, anecdotal evidence supports the beneficial effects of these diets for a multitude of GI diseases - the key is what diet, for which disease,and how long should you treat? This paper will review the current recommendations for use of dietary therapy in the management of GI diseases, but will also present information on dietary manipulation of the GI tract via nutraceuticals, prebiotics, probiotics and supplementation of important individual nutrients.