Cooler temperatures and northern climates are associated with increased diabetes diagnoses in dogs, suggests a new study.
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Diabetes in Cooler Weather
In humans, Type 1 diabetes mellitus diagnoses are more common in northern latitudes and during winter. Researchers have found a similar pattern in canines. Published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine researchers studied 960 pet dogs with diabetes mellitus living across the U.S.
Their findings didn’t go so far as to explain the underlying cause of this correlation. Still, Rebecka Hess, senior author of the study, highlighted the importance of exploring this correlation in depth because we all live in the same world.
“If the environment — cold temperatures and seasonality — are important in this disease in both species, it gives us something to look at with further research,” she said on the university website.
Possible Causes
The researchers hypothesize that the connection between colder and more northerly climates and human diabetes diagnoses is associated with vitamin D deficiency, diet, lifestyle, and viral infections. Not so much in dogs. Hess says the canine diet connection seems unlikely.
This is because most dog owners feed their pets a commercially available kibble, regardless of their location or the season. Further, overweight and obese dogs aren’t at higher risk of developing diabetes. So, a connection with exercise, or lack thereof, is also unlikely.
Hess believes the culprits are more likely to involve how the body processes either vitamin D or insulin. Researchers connected lower levels of vitamin D with an increased likelihood of diabetes in humans. This is along with lower temperatures leading to declines in insulin sensitivity. However, some researchers have suggested a possible connection to a viral infection that may be more prevalent in cold weather.
“Given the close relationship between humans and dogs, and the parallels we see when it comes to diabetes, it behooves us to look,” said Hess.
