Pets parents expect to have access to complete and balanced foods which create healthy intestines and long-lasting well-being in their furry companions. Evidence of good health is perceived by observing the right fecal consistency, alongside good evidence of vitality and appetite.
Brand Insights from Phileo by Lesaffre.
Digestive health in a nutshell
Digestive health is a « do or die » requirement for the pet food industry.
Pets parents expect to have access to complete and balanced foods which create healthy intestines and long-lasting well-being in their furry companions. Evidence of good health is perceived by observing the right fecal consistency, alongside good evidence of vitality and appetite.
From a veterinary perspective, digestive health can be described as a combination of four pillars:
- Healthy microbiota
- Gut barrier integrity
- Efficient local immune system
- Low incidence of pathogens in the intestine
Digestive health, a compilation of 4 pillars
If any one of these pillars are affected, troubles can arise, from simple disorders to more general health issues.
One approach is to deal with digestive issues as and when they appear, by using a veterinary drug treatment. A more preferrable strategy is to act preventively to avoid problems by using natural and safe ingredients that prepare the digestive tract to face a health challenge.
Today, probiotics are masterpieces in this focus on ingredients. They sit at the crossroads of several action modes, offering key benefits to support gut health and address all the four pillars.
Probiotics – defined by The Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization as “orally administered live microorganisms that, when consumed in adequate amounts, confer health benefits to the host”.
Actisaf® Sc 50 PET, the new probiotic for premium dry food
Actisaf® Sc 50 PET is a unique yeast probiotic specifically selected for dogs from the Lesaffre rich collection of natural proprietary strains.
Based on its expertise in strain biotechnology and food technology application, Phileo by Lesaffre has selected Actisaf® Sc 50 PET (CNCM 5660) as a Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strain specifically formulated to address technological challenges in relation to pet foods.
Actisaf® Sc 50 PET is stable during all the 18 months of dry food shelf life
With unique characteristics to secure application convenience and shelf life, Actisaf® Sc50 PET has thus been specifically designed in a patent pending micropearl form to be blended with premium palatants before dry food coating.
The viability of Actisaf® Sc 50 PET was tested in a blend with powder palatant coated on dry food. This innovative probiotic showed a record-breaking viability of 18 months solving the challenge of stability of dry food.
Actisaf® Sc 50 PET, the probiotic also viable from the pet’s mouth to the gut action site
When viability is secured in the food, the second step to check is the viability from the pet’s mouth to the gut action site. Once ingested, probiotics are indeed exposed to extreme conditions as they pass through the digestive system:
- Harsh stomach environment, characterised by very low pH
- Bile acids, secreted early in the duodenum
- Pancreatin
However, they must arrive in a live state in the intestine to be fully effective. To evaluate the resistance of Actisaf® Sc 50 PET regarding these 3 points of attention, Phileo by Lesaffre launched different assays.
A viability test was performed to assess the resistance to stomach pH and to pancreatin. This test imitates an environment to see if yeasts can live in it. To control the resistance to bile, a growth test was performed to see if cell population is growing, even in the presence of a limiting factor.
These assays have proven that Actisaf® Sc 50 PET can reach the gut action site alive as it is highly resistant to digestive challenge in dogs. Indeed, it resists to stomach pH, pancreatin and bile.
Health benefits of Actisaf® Sc50 PET in dogs
Stability and viability are prerequisites to keeping micro-organisms alive, enabling them to deliver maximum benefits to the host. Being able to create a viable probiotic yeast, Phileo then chose non-invasive research to demonstrate the health benefits of Actisaf® Sc50 PET in dogs.
The probiotic has been tested in healthy adult dogs through several studies. In these studies, a dietary transition model was used to create a physiological gut dysbiosis, designed to evaluate how the product shapes both microbiota composition and activity while also being representative of normal life conditions. These studies confirmed several benefits of Actisaf® Sc 50 PET.
Actisaf® Sc 50 PET stimulates gut mucosal immunity
The following graph shows an important and significant (p<0.01) difference between the control and the supplemented groups, with fecal IgA levels being strongly enhanced by Actisaf® Sc 50 PET supplementation. The probiotic thus improves mucosal and local immunity at an intestinal level to protect dogs from pathogens coming from food and the environment.
Actisaf® Sc 50 PET improves fecal quality
As the following graph shows, the fecal pH of Actisaf® Sc50 PET supplemented group decreased more than in the control group after diet transition and for the rest of the study (p<0.05). Thus, the probiotic significantly decreases fecal pH after diet transition, indicating good digestive hygiene.
In addition, Actisaf® Sc 50 PET participate to reduce both biogenic amines and ammonia, thus helping to decrease issues related to dog fecal odor and support digestive hygiene.
Actisaf® Sc 50 PET contributes to intestinal microbiota balance
Actisaf® Sc 50 PET administration significantly decreases (p<0.05) the fecal population of some potential pathogenic bacteria, such as E. coli as shown in the figure below, compared to the non-supplemented group. It also decreases the population of Streptococcus.
On the other hand, Actisaf® Sc 50 PET significantly increases beneficial bacteria, such as Bifidobacterium (p<0.05). As shown in the following graph, which represents the evolution of Bifidobacterium population via DNA, Actisaf® Sc 50 PET is shown to contribute to the maintaining of a higher level of this beneficial bacteria in the intestinal flora of dogs. In the same way, this probiotic increases populations of Blautia, Lactobacillus, Faecalibaterium and universal bacteria.
Actisaf® Sc 50 PET improves the dysbiosis index
Dysbiosis index (DI) was also looked at to assess microbial changes in the fecal samples of dogs. DI is a way to measure the response to a treatment while watching to see if the microbiota normalises after a diet transition, for example.
In the following graph, we can see that at D0 dogs have the same DI (all dogs remains healthy). At D21 there is already a significant improvement of the DI in the Actisaf® Sc50 PET supplemented group. After the diet transition (D22) dogs were fed with a better diet (with a higher level of fiber and protein, which participates to improve the microbiome). As a result, we see the DI improvement in both group but on D35 we can see again that Actisaf® Sc50 PET still significantly improves the DI of the supplemented group.
Actisaf® Sc 50 PET was finally tested and validated by pet parents
Phileo by Lesaffre partnered with Panelis to carry out home-based studies on 102 dogs, considered by their owners as digestion sensitive, which were supplemented with Actisaf® Sc 50 PET.
Studies were first carried out to evaluate ideal pet digestive health, as perceived by owners, and the different key signals pet parents use to assess this. Then, a protocol was developed to measure the progressive efficiency of Actisaf® Sc 50 PET, as perceived by dog owners over a 6-week period:
- Dogs were fed with Actisaf® Sc 50 PET for the first three weeks
- Supplementation was then stopped for the following three weeks to measure potential long- lasting benefits
Following the study, owners perceived an improvement in their dogs’ digestive health week after week. 63% of owners noticed an improvement when questioned at the end of the cure. Specific benefits mentioned are on stool consistency, appetite, and the reduction of gas and belly sounds.
Actisaf® Sc 50 PET is clearly reaching the targeted action site and id quickly displaying its benefits, this to the great satisfaction of pet parents.
Actisaf® Sc 50 PET, positioned for digestive care in Phileo’s Petsaf program
When supplemented daily, through dry food, and being able to travel and act throughout the gastrointestinal tract, the obvious and primary impact of Actisaf® Sc50 PET is on digestive health.
Actisaf® Sc 50 PET is the ideal new generation probiotic for premium dry foods, bringing valuable claims for pet parents’ satisfaction.
Please download your White book or contact us to learn more about Actisaf® Sc 50 PET, the probiotic for premium dry food.
Website to have the white book: Actisaf: Improve Animals' Performances | Phileo by Lesaffre (phileo-lesaffre.com)
Contact: Shelly Grace, Phileo Pets Manager, North America, s.grace@phileo.Lesaffre.com
This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Not all products are available in all markets nor associated claims allowed in all regions. The information provided in this document is to the best of our knowledge, true and accurate. However, products must only be used in compliance with local laws and regulations and we cannot guarantee freedom of use for every intended application or country.