New research published in the journal Veterinary Sciences has found that adding hempseed to the diet of healthy dogs improves gut microbiome health compared with a diet without hempseed.
Veterinary scientists from Kasetsart University in Thailand randomly assigned 24 mixed-breed dogs into three groups for a 90-day study. All groups were fed the same basic nutritious diet, but one group’s food was coated with hempseed oil at 2% inclusion, and another group’s food was supplemented with a hempseed by-product known as hempseed cake at 11% inclusion.
The gut microbiome is an important part of a dog’s overall health and is thought to contribute to digestion, metabolism, immune function and overall health.
“All dogs, including the controls, showed a natural increase in bacterial diversity over time. However, dogs fed hempseed oil showed a distinctly larger increase in bacterial species richness,” the researchers said.
At the beginning of the 90-day study, the dogs were all aged between three and six years and weighed between 15 and 20 kg. Tests were carried out to determine their health, including a Body Condition Score test (BCS), blood profiles, and feed intake monitoring.
Scientists also used faecal sampling tests and gene sequencing at the beginning of the study, at three weeks, and again at the end, enabling them to closely monitor changes in the dogs’ digestive health.
The results showed that the gut health of all three dogs improved over the course of the study, but the dogs fed the diets including hemp improved the most. Researchers also found different benefits were provided by each of the hemp additives.
The hempseed oil coating was associated with a greater increase in gut bacteria species diversity, although this isn’t always seen as contributing to gut health.
The hempseed cake addition was shown to increase specific bacteria, including Ligilactobacillus, Lactobacillaceae, Actinobacteriota, and Collinsella, which are all associated with a healthier gut.
“This longitudinal investigation of canine fecal microbiota over a 90-day dietary intervention with hempseed formulations revealed a complex ecological maturation process. Our findings demonstrate that while the fecal microbiome of healthy dogs exhibits significant temporal shifts under standardized conditions, the introduction of hempseed by-product (FB) and hempseed oil (FO) exerts distinct selective pressures that enhance microbial diversity without disrupting the ecological stability of the host animal,” the researchers said.
“The principal findings revealed that both hempseed-based diets modulated the canine gut microbiota, with the most pronounced effects observed in the FO group. Specifically, FO supplementation led to the greatest increase in alpha diversity and induced distinct shifts in several bacterial taxa, whereas the FB group exhibited a more moderate response and greater stability in certain communities.”
“These results suggest that hempseed, particularly its oil fraction, exerts health effects in dogs, although the specific formulation dictates the nature and extent of microbial modulation”
Previous studies investigating the role cannabis can play in animal health have found CBD to slow down cancer growth in dogs, CBD to help relax tropical fish during transportation, and CBD to help save the bees.
