Has your pet ever looked at the food bowl hoping for something different but quickly realizes they are
just getting the same processed kibble that they get everyday?
Let's take another look at this picture and compare our loyal companion, the dog, with this growing young girl. Really, there are more similarities than we realize.
We have been
trained to think that all the nourishment a pet needs is in that bag of dry kibble. Veterinary students across the U.S. are still taught this very lie today. There are a few major pet food companies that are primary shareholders in veterinary medicine, meaning their influence is not only in the school but in the hospitals as well. I will be writing another email on this subject soon. One of these pet food companies in particular owns over 2,000 veterinary hospitals in the U.S. Would you
call that influence?
However, thanks to social media, clients are getting "FED UP" with the lies that they have been told. They are seeking solutions to solve their pets medical problems. They are tired of treating symptoms only to have those return again later. They are tired of their pets aging quickly. They are tired of their pets dying of
cancer.
- Did you know that in 1970 the average life span of a dog was 17 years?
- Sadly the life span of dogs in 2016 registered at 11 years!
- It is also
estimated now that 1 in 2 dogs will get cancer!
So what's going on?
Why have we seen these negative trends in our beloved companions, especially in the face of modern medicine?
Shouldn't
our pets be living longer?
While holistic medicine practices "less is more," conventional medicine has developed some aggressive practices:
- They continue to add new vaccines to the original core series
- All of these vaccines- ranging anywhere from 5-10 vaccines - are given at once and are repeated over and over throughout the pet's life in the face of research that states most vaccines last a life-time in the body and do not need frequent or repeat boosters
- They give the same dose of vaccine to a 10 lb dog as they do a 100lb dog
- They support the drug companies competitive race to create the most potent and yet most toxic flea, tick and heartworm preventatives
- AND they push and prescribe processed food
Well, we have great news! There is some new information being
released to the general public! "The Truth about Pet Cancer" is a new documentary that has taken an in depth look into the veterinary food industry and the information they have uncovered is astounding!
Did you know that Natural pet foods are estimated to grow from $4 billion to $9 billion this year?
- Blue Buffalo and Nutro are two of the primary brands
Speaking of Natural?
Do you know what AAFCO, The Association of American Feed Control Officers defines as
natural?
“A feed or ingredient derived solely from plant, animal or mined sources, either in its unprocessed state or having been subject to physical processing...but not having been produced(what??) a chemically synthetic process (how is this natural?) and not containing any additives... that are chemically synthetic except in amounts as might occur unavoidably in good manufacturing
practices.”
Are you kidding me? How can that be considered the definition of "Natural"?
Do you want to know AFFCO's definition of "Human-grade"?
Well, there is
NO regulatory definition!
They only require that the processing be in accordance with FDA human safety/ sanitation standards.
They determined that very few if any pet food could be considered safe for human consumption!
So what exactly is beneficial in a kibble diet?
The perfect balance of vitamins and minerals?
Not hardly! The vitamins in processed dog food amounts to less than the equivalent of a daily
multivitamin.
How about the protein?
In order to make kibble, a process known as extrusion or expansion is used. This is the same process used to make cereal.
In fact, the
cereal industry is responsible for the development of kibble. (The companies needed somewhere to dump all their left over grains that were not satisfactory for human consumption, thus dry pet food was created.)
The protein in dry kibble is rendered and extruded in which it is
heated to temperatures as high as 450 degrees! In chemistry, we would call this process a denaturing process in which the characteristics of the protein have been destroyed making the amino acids no longer available.
*Through our bioscan testing, we have been finding that many of our patients have significant amino acid deficiencies. Most of
these patients are fed kibble diets where the amino acids have been denatured or destroyed through processing.
Rendering:
- "The flesh products (protein) used in pet foods must first be rendered, or processed, to separate the water, fat, and protein
components, including soft offals (viscera) and hard offals (e.g. bones and hoofs). Generally, meat is rendered by out-side companies and shipped to pet food manufacturers."
- "Rendering entails rupturing fat cells, either by heat or enzymatic- and solvent-extraction, and then drying the residue."
Extrusion:
- "The extruder, essentially a giant meat grinder, is where the primary cooking phase for dry extruded pet food products occurs. The dough is cooked under intense heat and pressure as it moves toward the open end of the extruder. At the end of the extruder, hot dough passes through a shaping die and knife (similar to the action of a meat grinder) where the small pieces expand
rapidly into kibble once they are under standard air pressure.
- Kibble is dried in an oven until its moisture content is low enough to make it shelf stable like a cookie or cracker. The drying oven is followed by a cooling phase.
- After cooling, kibble may pass through a machine that sprays on a coating, which is
generally a flavor enhancer."
Hungry yet?
Don't worry all that rendered and extruded meat will be combined with starches to shape it into a nice looking kibble biscuit!
Blending and Shaping:
- "The meat mixture is blended with other ingredients such as cereal grains, vitamins, and minerals.
- Dry and semi-moist foods are usually heated so the mixture will partially dextrinize, or thicken, the starch. To achieve the marbled-look of real meat, the meat mixture may be cooked unevenly and half of
the batch colored red and the other white. Semimoist foods must be stabilized to retain the proper amount of moisture in the dry and semi-moist parts of the food.
- Dry and semi-moist foods may be extruded under high pressure through a device with orificed plates to obtain the shape and size of the specific product, for instance, the form of biscuits, kibbles, meat-balls, patties, pellets, or slices. An alternative to extrusion
is to gelatinize and expand the mixture. For marbled meat, the mixture of red and white meat is extruded together and broken into chunks."
- Read more: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-2/Pet-Food.html#ixzz4zriSwTfw
So if it's not the vitamins or the protein content that makes dry kibble the "best food for your pet" then what is it?
Did you know that dog food companies established a rule that protects them from listing the carbohydrates on the label?
Yeah, go ahead and grab your bag of dog food and look at the label. Do you see carbohydrates listed?
I didn't think so.... but you can figure this information out by doing a little simple math:
Add up the guaranteed analysis of protein, fat, moisture and
ash (estimate 8% if not listed) and subtract from 100 and this gives you an estimate of the carbohydrate content.
Shocking isn't it?
But what if the food is grain free? Grain free is NOT starch free! Hidden starches account for up to 40-50% of the "grain free" diet.
There are only a few exceptions: Wysong's Epigen and Orijen's lines.
During the research for the documentary, it was discovered that prescription dog foods had some of the highest content of carbohydrates of all the dog foods measured! This is extremely upsetting since most clients pay upwards from $50-100/bag for what they were told was quality pet
food. The extent of our Veterinarian Nutrition training basically boils down to which one of these prescription diets to feed for a particular illness or condition.
Here's just a few of the diets with their carbohydrate measurements:
Hill's Z/D =
56%
Hill's I/D, H/D = 53-58%
Pedigree and blue buffalo - 40+%
So what's the link between these processed diets and cancer?
- Well, for one, carbohydrates are broken down by the liver into simple sugars. These sugars are broken down into molecules of glucose.
- Cancer cells use glucose for energy!
- Furthermore, when foods are cooked at high heat, a maillard reaction occurs. This is where the protein and carbs bind together creating what is called a "glyco toxin." Glyco toxins build up in the system over time and create inflammation especially in the brain creating issues such as cognitive dysfunction, senility, etc.
- Processing also creates
heterocyclic amines (HCAs) which are known carcinogens.
- After the processing, the kibble is usually sprayed with fats to make it more appealing and to improve freshness. However, these fats are usually polyunsaturated (unstable fats) that are rancid. Rancidity creates inflammation and according to TCM, damp heat, both of which
lead to the development of cancer.
In fact, it was suggested in the documentary that the fats used in dry kibble would be more suited for biodiesel than pet food.
- Due to the processing and storage of kibble, most kibble contains mycotoxins, aflatoxins.
* We are also detecting these on our bioscans.
- Mycotoxin inhibit the cells mitochondria. Mitochondria is the cell's engine. When there is mitochondrial dysfunction there is inflammation. Chronic inflammation leads to cancer.
Since a large majority of the veterinary
industry is owned by the pet food companies, there has not been any significant research studies done comparing pets fed raw or fresh food versus pets fed kibble.
However, in Finland, a metabolomics analysis is being conducted comparing the affects of kibble diets versus raw diets. This study has been ongoing for 15 years now.
They are using homocysteine as the primary marker for inflammation and cancer. They have noted that it is much higher in pets fed a kibble diet.
In fact, they found that even supplementing 20% of the pets diet with RAW food made a huge impact in reducing disease.
We need to stop thinking about NUTRITION and start thinking about the METABOLISM of food. It doesn't matter if we have the healthiest food in the world, if we process it, it is going to cause inflammation.
So what should you feed your
pet?
While the documentary recommended transitioning all pets to a ketogenic diet, with my training in Traditional Chinese Food Therapy, I have a hard time agreeing with this. There are no absolutes when dealing with health and disease, there are just too many factors involved. However, we are very excited about all the new information regarding
this type of diet. It appears very promising in preventing and even curing some cases of cancer!
In fact, Poncho and I will be pursuing a ketogenic diet here in the near future!
We also have a few patients who have already transitioned to this diet and we are seeing positive
results.
While we would love for all of our patients to be fed a home-cooked fresh foods and/or RAW diet (which would be based on the pet's constitution and digestive health) we know this isn't always feasible. If kibble is one thing it is convenient for sure. But as we see in the standard American diet of highly convenient processed foods the illnesses associated with it
has become epidemics.
So if you are currently feeding your pet a kibble diet consider transitioning to a less processed (heated) diet. These diets would include Sojo's, Grandma Lucy's, Honest Kitchen and I and Love and You.
If you do not want to transition your pet to
one of these diets, then we recommend feeding a kibble that is lower in carbohydrates/starches. You may also consider adding some fresh foods to his/her current diet. * We always recommend moist/canned food when feeding dry kibble. This will improve the moisture content and digestion. However, you may want to add sardines (1-2 fish) a few times a week, a raw egg a few times a week, raw or cooked veggies or some meat toppers like ground turkey, ground beef
or chicken. Studies show that even adding a small amount of fresh foods to your pets diet will decrease the risk of cancer by 30%-40%.
Of course, I always recommend discussing any diet change with us or your holistic veterinarian. In TCM Food Therapy, we take into account many factors, we have to decide on the proteins and vegetables that are appropriate for your pet and your pet's
constitution and pattern imbalance. We do not want to feed a pet that is always hot and panting, a food that heats up the body. Nor do we want to feed a chilly, reserved pet a food that cools the body down. Every pet is different and there is not a "one size fits all diet." We just want to make you aware of the importance of your pets diet and the metabolic consequences associated with what our industry has taught us is "pet food". It all starts
there.
