Phillipsite and microbiome

This post started out as a post on clays and humic/fulvic acid. Zeolites are common clays mixed with

Superchi P, Saleri R , Ossiprandi MC et al (2017) Natural zeolite (chabazite/phillipsite) dietary supplementation influences faecal microbiota and oxidant status of working dogs. Italian Journal of Animal Science Volume 16, 2017 – Issue 1 free article

These dogs were eating an almost human diet and had the same variability in age and weight as one would expect for humans. The dogs were considered healthy, based on physical examination and blood biochemistry analysis and did not receive medications that are expected to alter the gut microbiota (i.e. antibiotics). The dogs were also dewormed.

• Forty English Setter dogs reared in the same kennel were involved in the study with two replicates separated by time (20 dogs/replicate).
• Inside each replication, the animals were subjected to the same environmental conditions.
• Mean age (years) was 3.46 ± 2.1
• mean body weight (BW, kg) was 19.02 ± 3.2.
• At each replicate, dogs were divided into two homogeneous groups (10 dogs/group), based on their age and weight. In both groups, sexes (5 males, 5 not pregnant females) were equally distributed.
• The rather varied diet consisted of 25 g dry matter/kg of BW^0.75, once a day, at 17:00 h,
• supplemented (Z group) or not supplemented (C group) with chabazite/phillipsite at the dose of 5 g/head/day.

This philliposite has a lot of moisture. How does the moisture effect the performance? The iron content could also be interesting. Chabazite has a fromula Ca,K₂,Na₂,Mg)Al₂Si₄O₁₂•6H₂O

Note that in addition to consuming the commercial extruded mixed feed, aka kibbles, the dogs were eating bread and chicken. The

Table 4 ^a C: untreated group with chabazite/phillipsite; Z: treated group with chabazite/phillipsite.

^b SEM: standard error of the difference of means.

^c,d Different letters in the same row indicate statistical difference (p < .05).

The statistics used in this publication are confusing. The say they used a GLM, or general linear model, and ANOVA.

TBARS

Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) are formed as a byproduct of lipid peroxidation usually malondialdehyde,

The amazing part of this study is that TBARS went down, even though there was iron in the philliposite clay. The presence of iron and hydrogen peroxide, H₂O₂, and generate hydroxyl radicals .OH in a process known as the Fenton Reaction. and Haber-Wess Reactions

Bacteria

An interesting aspect of this report is that the authors used low cost agar plates to estimate changes in the microbiome. The family groups they looked at contain some good and bad members.

As low budget as some this study is, the results are kind of exciting. This comment really is meant as praise.