Does your dog’s diabetes have anything to do with you? Research from Sweden and The United Kingdom would suggest so!
That’s right. Researchers found that the owners of dogs who had diabetes were more likely to acquire Type 2 diabetes themselves. The researchers looked at the association between cats, diabetes and the cats’ owners, but found no such correlation.
It doesn’t come as such a surprise, in that other research has shown that those who may be a bit on the fluffy side have dogs who tend to be overweight as well. This is typically attributed to a shared lifestyle that doesn’t include much exercise for either a dog or his human. Being overweight increases the risk of developing diabetes in both humans and dogs.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), diabetes in humans is on the rise. They cite research showing the prevalence of diabetes in adults rising from 4.7% to 8.5% from 1980 to 2014, and a 5% increase in early deaths due to diabetes from 2000-2016.
The research team looked at Swedish Veterinary Records from 2004-2006 and identified almost 210,000 human owner/dog pairs. They also analyzed over 120,000 human owner/cat pairs. They then tracked the health of the owner/pet pairs from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2012. Using information from the Swedish National Patient Register, as well as the Cause of Death Register and the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register, they noted those who had acquired diabetes. To find dogs with diabetes, they looked at veterinary insurance records.
In humans, they found that there were 7.7 cases of diabetes per 1000 human years, without taking their dogs or cats’ health into question. For those humans with cats, the prevalence of diabetes was 7.9 per 1000 human years.
Looking at the pets, there were 1.3 cases of diabetes per 1000 dog years and 2.2 cases of diabetes for every 1000 cat years.
But when researchers compared the health of the pets and their owners together? There was a significant correspondence. People who owned a dog with diabetes were nearly 40% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who were the owners of a dog without diabetes.
The same could be said when looking backward–dogs whose owners had type 2 diabetes were nearly 30% more likely to develop diabetes themselves, though factoring age into that statistic lowered the significance.
They found no diabetic associations between humans and their cats.
So what does this all mean?
It means it’s more important than ever that you watch your dog’s weight and help keep his blood sugar levels as they should be. Regular exercise is important for both you and your dog, for both your health and your relationship.
It also means that supplementing your dog’s food with Bernie’s Perfect Poop is super important too. Perfect Poop is always just the end result when it comes to good health. What perfect poop really means is that your dog’s gut is healthy and when your dog’s gut is healthy, his blood sugar levels are better controlled and maintained. The fiber in Bernie’s helps them maintain healthy weights as well as slows the movement of food in the digestive tract. When food moves through your dog’s digestive tract at the appropriate speed, it will slow down the digestion of the carbohydrates from your dog’s food. This prevents rapid spikes of glucose/sugar in your dog’s bloodstream, and helps prevent the development of diabetes.
Which apparently decreases YOUR risk of diabetes, so it’s a win-win!
To learn more about dog diabetes, be sure to read here.
