Wednesday, July 13, 2016
DIGESTIBILITY IS NOT DIGESTIBLE Dr. Wysong
Of course it's important that what is eaten be digestible. All that goes in should not also all come out. But where there is a valid notion, there will always be found an invalid marketing scheme.
Digestibility tests are used to determine how much food is absorbed. It is assumed from this that food "A," because it is 95% digestible, is better than food "B," which is 90% digestible. But that would imply that if food "C" were 100% digestible, with zero fecal output, it would be the best food of all.
Not so. Digestive tract health and the movement of food through the intestines where different elements are absorbed, depends upon a portion of food being indigestible. Certain kinds of food components such as fibers and oligosaccharides not only help maintain the health of the digestive tract but encourage the growth of friendly microorganisms that fight pathogens and exert a range of other health effects.
Digestibility tests attach simplicity to that which is incredibly complex. Measuring how much is absorbed compared to how much is lost or excreted says nothing about the merit of what is absorbed. Nutrition is a tissue-level biochemical phenomenon, not a simple subtraction between what is eaten and what is excreted.
Nevertheless, some pet food producers will promote their food based upon its digestibility percent. This must be seen for what it is, a ruse to create false confidence in a processed pet food so that people will feed it exclusively.
Not only is digestibility not a true measure of value, it ignores that there is no generally accepted method for determining digestibility. This disagreement among the experts results from poor understanding.
Since digestibility expert "A" disagrees with digestibility expert "B" and vice versa, we can disagree with either of them and have the backing of an expert.
The wise approach to nutrition is to forget the lab tests and experts, feed dogs and cats as they are designed, and let the digestibility chips fall where they may. Mother Nature has things pretty well figured out and she is the only true expert.
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
A PACKAGE NEEDS TO BE MORE THAN A PRETTY FACE by Dr. Wysong
Quality foods made of natural ingredients are fragile. Heat, light, air, and time degrade nutrients or convert them to toxins.
In fact, keeping foods viable is the main challenge of food processors that need to distribute foods worldwide. Somehow they must arrest the spoiling that normally occurs to natural foods to allow for packaging, shipping, and sitting on shelves until sold.
The easy way to take care of this problem is to cook the food so that the enzymes and microorganisms that break the food down are destroyed. The problem with this is, processing also destroys many valuable nutrients.
The alternative for producers concerned about this (as they should be) is to minimize processing and incorporate fresh elements that are not heated at all. The next step is to protect these fresh elements with oxygen and light barrier packaging. Smaller portion packaging is also preferable to the large paper bags in pet supermarkets that do not protect foods from light or air and may take weeks to be eaten after the bag is opened and exposed to the elements.
Before sealing, the bags should also be flushed with nitrogen to remove oxygen before the bag is sealed. These measures help prevent oxidation of important and fragile nutrients such as essential fatty acids.
Keep the delicate nature of nutritious food in mind, no matter what the claim of shelf life. A good principle to keep in mind is the faster food spoils, the more nutritious it is.
Once a package is opened it should be tightly resealed and either stored in a cool, dry, dark environment, or preferably, refrigerated or frozen. This will further prolong nutritional integrity, and with that also preserve and enhance your pet's health.
Thought for the day: "We cannot glimpse the essential life of a caged animal, only the shadow of its former beauty." Julia Allen Field
Phrase for the day: 'unsaturated fats' – - fats in which not all carbons are saturated with hydrogens and which contain reactive double bonds. These are found in both plants and animals and are quite vulnerable to oxidation by heat, light, oxygen, and certain metals. Some of these are essential dietary components important for cellular structure, metabolism, and communication. Omega 3, 6, and 9 fatty acids are unsaturated to various degrees. Unlike saturated fats, unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature. To learn more about the critical importance of fats and oils in health and disease, read Dr. Wysong's book Lipid Nutrition.
Monday, May 30, 2016
THE "NO" PLOY Dr. Wysong
Since commercial dry pet foods came to be, corn, wheat and other grains have been used as starch sources to permit the forming of extruded nuggets. Although meat has long been known to be the best source of nutrition for pets, it is more expensive than grains, and meats alone cannot be extruded into a nugget that will hold its shape or dry properly.
So why are there now so many "no corn" no wheat," and "no grain" products flooding the market? Why would such natural ingredients that have been used by humans for thousands of years all of a sudden at this last hour become so "dangerous"?
Since most dog foods and cat foods contain grains, it is hard for brands to distinguish themselves. To create a market niche requires some uniqueness. Thus was born the "no corn"
"no grain" "no this or that" pet food industry. By saying "no something," the public assumes that the "something" must be bad. The new "no" pet food industry struck fear into the heart of consumers by attaching all the illnesses pets get to the ingredients that they conveniently left out of their foods.
In other words, if you want your pet to be well you must buy their "no" product. The net effect, however, is "yes" they will get your money, but "no" your pet will not be healthier.
Although I am not here advocating a steady diet of corn and grains - since these are really not the natural foods for carnivores - neither can it be reasonably argued that the starches the "no" companies use (potato, rice, tapioca, etc.) are any better. Some of these substitute starches are not only nutritionally inferior to grains, they can be toxic in sufficient dose.
As a part of a varied diet, various starch sources are fine. But that is not what the "no" companies advocate. They want you to feed only their "no" foods. But if you do that, nothing is gained. Pets will suffer the same diseases they always have from eating a steady diet of heat processed starch-based packaged foods.
There is simply nothing uniquely hazardous about grain starch sources. There is, however, much potential hazard associated with feeding any one food (particularly heat processed) on an exclusive basis, regardless of its ingredients.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Friday, May 20, 2016
United States ads in Business Ads For Free
United States ads in Business Ads For Free: The first extruded dry diet/kibble pet food that is starch free™ (epigen does what 'grain free' dog food and cat foods only pretend to do).
The Dose Makes the Poison - Dr. Wysong
Pet food manufacturers have increasingly capitalized on marketable catch phrases of the day, e.g. "natural," "organic," "premium," "grain free," "no corn," etc. Such slogans are designed to convince people that if the special food bearing the special slogan is fed, there need be no worry about pet health.
Unfortunately, even manufacturers do not seem to realize that so-called natural foods, premium foods, organic foods, and foods devoid of purportedly deleterious ingredients are ALL harmful if fed exclusively.
The fundamental principle of toxicity is that the dose makes the poison. The fifteenth century Swiss alchemist and physician, Paracelsus, credited as being the father of toxicology, said "All things are poison and nothing is without poison, only the dose permits something not to be poisonous."
Even things essential to life, such as water and oxygen, if in excess, can be harmful. One pet food, if fed exclusively, regardless of its merits, can be toxic. Although it's easy and convenient to just pour one food from one package day after day, don't fall into the poisonous trap.
For optimal health, feed a variety of properly designed pet diets and supplements, and rotate with whole fresh foods. This obvious and simple point cannot be emphasized enough.
It takes a little more effort and some thought to feed with the wisdom of variety, but a little pain now is so much better than the tragedy of expensive and painful disease later.
A dog's or cat's body has great capacity to detoxify almost any substance in small enough doses. It can even detoxify large doses as long as the toxin is not dosed constantly. Additionally, almost any substance can be toxic at high enough dose given constantly. Even the most healthy food in the world is potentially toxic.
The melamine disaster resulting from tainted Chinese ingredients should teach us a lesson. No one food can be trusted. The lesson is not that we need to analyze so-called complete and balanced foods for every conceivable toxin a practical impossibility it is that we must feed in variety and rotation.
It is so incredibly sad that if people who had melamine tainted food had been feeding in this manner, thousands of dogs and cats might have been spared the tragedy.
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