Episode 6: Diet Recommendations

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Episode 6: Diet Recommendations

 

• Many choices in pet foods
  • Dizzying array in the pet store from the least expensive to the more expensive and ‘holistic’ foods
    • What is a ‘holistic’ food?

 

• Which one to choose? Why? Two primary concerns:
  • Nutritional quality
  • Safety

 

• Recent safety concerns with commercial foods – What’s in the bag?:
  • Melamine
  • Aflatoxin or other fungal toxins
  • Pentobarbital or other drug residues
    • 2002 FDA veterinarian Newsletter Vol XVI, No III http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/NewsEvents/FDAVeterinarianNewsletter/ucm110419.htm
    • “After finding that the low levels of pentobarbital that dogs might receive through food are unlikely to cause them any adverse health effects, FDA officials did not think that further research into the issue was necessary.”
• Bacterial contaminants
  • Human Salmonella Infections Linked to Contaminated Dry Dog and Cat Food, 2006-2008
    • Seventy-nine case-patients in 21 states were identified; 48% were children aged 2 years or younger.
    • A low attack rate supports the hypothesis that infection might have resulted from practices in a limited number of households.
    • One possibility is that the number of organisms was magnified in some households because of, eg, cross contamination in the kitchens or irregular cleaning of pet food bowls, which might promote bacteria growth.
    • In addition, illness may have occurred primarily in persons who were more susceptible to infection with a small number of organisms.
    • Illness was not reported in dogs or cats from case patient households, although the outbreak strain was cultured from several stool specimens from dogs who ate contaminated dry dog food.
    • Some children may have become ill from contact with a pet carrying the outbreak strain.
    • Prevalence of isolation of Salmonella from feces of healthy dogs is reported to be between 1% and 36%, and from healthy cats between 1% and 18%.
    • Dogs and cats may shed Salmonella in the feces for as long as 12 weeks, and shedding may be intermittent, 11 so the risk of infection could continue for extended periods.
    • In addition, it is thought that Salmonella can survive for extended periods in dry dog and cat food, as it can in similar dried foods such as cereals.
    • Forty-three million US households (37%) own dogs and 37.5 million (32%) own cats, and many pet owners feed the animals dry pet food.
    • …dry pet food, the most common pet food fed to dogs and cats, is not manufactured to be a sterile product.
    • Typically, a more drastic heat treatment is required to destroy Salmonella in dried food products.
    • Since 2006, according to the FDA, at least 13 recall announcements involving 135 pet products (eg, dry dog food and cat food, pet treats, raw diets, and pet supplements) have been issued because of Salmonella contamination.
    •  No human illness was associated with these other pet food recalls.
    • The recommendation to wash hands is the most important prevention step for reducing the risk for disease transmission.

{http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2010/08/09/peds.2009-3273.full.pdf }

• http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recalls/
• A total of 49 individuals (47 individuals in 20 states and two individuals in Canada) infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Infantis were reported.
• Among the 24 patients with available information, 10 (42%) were hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.
• Epidemiologic and laboratory investigations conducted by officials in local, state, and federal public health, agriculture, and regulatory agencies linked this outbreak to dry dog food produced by Diamond Pet Foods at a single production facility in Gaston, South Carolina.

• Multistate Outbreak of Human Salmonella Infantis Infections Linked to Dry Dog Food (Final Update)

http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/dog-food-05-12/pet-owners-info.html

• Salmonella Infection (salmonellosis) and Animals
  • You should also know that some pet products, like pet foods and treats, can be contaminated with Salmonella and other germs. Pet food and treats might include dry dog or cat food, dog biscuits, pig ears, beef hooves, and rodents used to feed reptiles including frozen feeder rodents.

http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/diseases/salmonellosis.htm

 

• Safety concerns with raw foods:
  • Parasites
  • Bacteria
    • Documentation?
    • We are led to believe that raw frozen diets present an especially great risk of bacterial contamination and illness
      • Canadian Veterinary Journal / VOL 48 / JANUARY 2007 The risk of salmonellae shedding by dogs fed Salmonella-contaminated commercial raw food diets

 

• Aside from safety concerns, there is the question about how best to feed your pet.

 

• Conventional thinking (the old paradigm): “The nutrient profile of a commercial pet food is important to animals and should be the primary focus rather than concern for specific ingredients”

{Small Animal Clinical Nutrition 4^th Edition 2000 p.119}

 

• New Paradigm: There are many chemical components in plant and animal tissues that have powerful, beneficial physiologic effects.

 

• Each plant or animal product has a unique combination of chemical ingredients that produce the observed physiologic effects

 

 

• Therefore, each ingredient in the diet may exert specific physiologic effects or benefits beyond the mere content of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals

 

• Many of these bio-active compounds are not currently considered ‘essential’ and are therefore not included, or not quantified, in commercial pet foods

 

• Modern understanding of genetics has shifted focus to the relationship of nutrition and genetic expression

 

 

• Focus on functional nutrition rather than ‘minimums’, ‘deficiencies’, and ‘essential nutrients’
  • Aspects of Functional Nutrition:
    • Nutrigenetics  –  Nutrigenomics  – Epigenetics

 

• Nutrigenetics
• Genetic variability affects the response to diet
• Nutritionists are beginning to acknowledge the genetic/biochemical uniqueness of each individual
  • “…certain animals may have genetic or metabolic differences that may respond to intakes greater than are considered adequate to avoid recognized dietary deficiencies.”

{LaFlamme DP. 2000 Healthy Skin And Haircoat: The Importance of Nutrition. Purina Research  Report pp.1-4.}

 

• Nutrigenomics           
  • “Modern discipline at the interface of genetics, molecular nutrition, molecular biology, pharmacogenomics, and molecular medicine”

{ Nutrigenomics. Rimbach G, Fuchs J, Packer L. Eds. 2005 p.1}

• Dietary components can alter genetic expression
• Modify health by modifying the way we feed the genes
• Example: modification of matrix metalloproteinase and proinflammatory cytokine production with EPA
• Modify genetic expression and inheritance = “Epigenetics”

 

• “Epigenetics”
• NOVA | scienceNOW | Epigenetics: A Tale of Two Mice (Flash) | PBS
• NOVA | scienceNOW | Epigenetics | PBS

 

•  “While identifying bioactive components in food may be helpful in explaining the health effects of food, such information is likely to be incomplete. All foods come from living organisms where the components interact to produce biological systems. These interactions are relevant when the plant or animal is consumed as food.”

{Jacobs DR, Tapsell LC. Food, not nutrients, is the fundamental unit in nutrition. Nutrition Reviews Vol. 165, No. 10, p.439}

 

• “…there are thousands of other substances in the food matrix that must be considered as possibly leading to biological activity, possibly synergistically with each other…These include signal transducers, hormones, sterols, enzymes, enzymes inhibitors, polyphenols, and fungicides, among others. In this light, it seems rather simplistic to evaluate a diet solely in terms of a single food component…”

{Jacobs DR, Tapsell LC. Food, not nutrients, is the fundamental unit in nutrition. Nutrition Reviews Vol. 165, No. 10, p.439}

 

• A diet that provides a complex mixture of bioactive chemical compounds in the form of intact foods is more effective for health maintenance than when nutrients are taken by themselves

 

• An optimal diet will contain a wide variety of minimally processed whole foods and whole-food based supplementation

 

 

• Ingredient Source/Quality
  • Organic when possible, affordable, available
    • Evidence of higher trace mineral content and variations in phytochemical concentrations
    • No pesticide/herbicide residues – may be especially important in ill or dysfunctional animals
• Grass-fed meat and dairy product sources
  • Significant differences in essential fatty acid content
  • Increased omega 3 fatty acids
  • Effects on inflammation and immune function
  • Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA)
    • Effects on immune function – decreased cancer
    • Effects on weight loss
  • Decreased shedding and risk of enterotoxigenic E. coli

 

• Commercial Diets
  • AAFCO feeding trials…not alone sufficient but a necessary step
  • Variety of ingredients?
  • Processing?
    • Raw vs. cooked?
    • Post-heating application of EFA’s?
    • Freeze-dried ‘bio-coating’?
• Rotation?
• Company philosophy?
• Manufacturing facility? (Salmonella from one plant producing several brands)

 

• Approaches to formulation of a balanced diet at home
  • Overall diet
    • General % of various ingredients tailored to the individual animal
    • Complete Guide to Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats by Kymythy Schulze
      • Cautions: Over-generalized restrictions, synthetic vitamins

 

• Each meal
  • Recipes
  • Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats by Dr. Richard Pitcairn
    • Cautions: synthetic vitamins, reliance on grains
  • Home-Prepared Dog and Cat Diets: The Healthful Alternative by Donald R. Strombeck, DVM, PhD
    • Excellent resource
    • Caution: reliance on multiple (synthetic) vitamin-mineral tablets for balancing meals

 

• What do I feed my dogs and cat?
  • NV raw boost kibble and Steve’s Real Food + SP Whole Body Support + regular supplements of fresh meats, fruits, vegetables