Buffering Capacity of Various Commercial and Homemade Foods in the Context of Gastric Canine Digestion.

Simple Summary: Knowing and predicting the buffering capacity of a food is of high importance in the context of gastric digestion and health. The aim of this study was to analyze the buffering capacity and the HCl amount needed to acidify a food, both as an indication of the acidity and gastric digestion of commercial and homemade dog foods in relation to their nutrient composition. The study developed prediction equations to estimate the buffering capacity using a set of 30 complete dog foods, each ten different types of commercial dry and wet dog food, and homemade dog food. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate canine food for buffering capacity. The buffering capacity (BC) of food may act as a key regulatory parameter of canine gastric digestion by influencing the activity of gastric enzymes, the solubility of dietary ingredients, the gastric breakdown of food nutrients, and, subsequently, the absorption of nutrients. To analyse a possible effect of food on gastric pH, the BC of wet, dry, and homemade dog food was quantified via an acid titration method until a pH under 2 was achieved. Wet food had the highest BC; between dry and homemade food, there was no significant difference. Using multiple regression analyses, we were able to establish associations between the nutrient composition and the BC of the dog food. Crude protein content was the most important factor that influenced the BC and HCl use per gram of dry matter (DM) (p < 0.001), whereas the initial pH only tended to have an influence. The ash content also tended to affect the used HCl per gram of DM, and the DM content had a significant (p < 0.05) influence on the BC per gram of DM. The excessively high ash content found in wet food could be a risk factor for gastric dilatation–volvulus syndrome because it could lead to an insufficient pH drop in the stomach. Our data indicate large differences in the BC of typical dog food; so, estimating the BC using the equations developed herein could help to design individualized dog diets, in particular for dogs with health problems such as gastric hypoacidity, gastric reflux, or gastritis. However, more research about the influence of dog-food BC on gastric pH in vivo is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]