A variety of diets have been studied for possible anti-aging effects. In particular, studies of intermittent fasting and time-restricted feeding in laboratory rodents have found evidence of beneficial health outcomes. Companion dogs represent a unique opportunity to study diet in a large mammal that shares human environments. The Dog Aging Project has been collecting data on thousands of companion dogs of all different ages, sizes, and breeds since 2019. We leveraged this diverse cross-sectional dataset to investigate associations between feeding frequency and cognitive function (n = 10,474) as well as nine broad categories of health conditions (n = 24,238). Controlling for sex, age, breed, and other potential confounders, we found that dogs fed once daily rather than more frequently had lower mean scores on a cognitive dysfunction scale, and lower odds of having gastrointestinal, dental, orthopedic, kidney/urinary, and liver/pancreas disorders. Therefore, we find that once-daily feeding is associated with better health in multiple domains. Future research with longitudinal data can provide stronger evidence for a possible causal effect of feeding frequency on health in companion dogs.

已经研究了多种饮食可能的抗衰老作用。特别是，对实验室啮齿动物的间歇性禁食和限时进食的研究发现了有益健康结果的证据。伴侣犬代表了一个独特的机会来研究共享人类环境的大型哺乳动物的饮食。自 2019 年以来，Dog Aging Project 一直在收集数千只不同年龄、大小和品种的伴侣犬的数据。我们利用这个多样化的横截面数据集来研究喂养频率与认知功能 ( n  = 10,474) 以及九大类健康状况（n = 24,238)。控制性别、年龄、品种和其他潜在的混杂因素后，我们发现每天喂食一次而不是更频繁地喂食的狗在认知功能障碍量表上的平均得分较低，并且患有胃肠道、牙科、骨科、肾脏/泌尿系统和肝脏/胰腺疾病。因此，我们发现每天一次的喂养与多个领域的更好健康有关。未来的纵向数据研究可以为喂养频率对伴侣犬健康的可能因果影响提供更有力的证据。