Unconventional diets. Craig Datz, DVM, MS, DABVP, DACVN Royal Canin USA

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Unconventional diets. Craig Datz, DVM, MS, DABVP, DACVN Royal Canin USA"

Lucinda Brooks
6 years ago
Views:

1 Unconventional diets Craig Datz, DVM, MS, DABVP, DACVN Royal Canin USA In recent years there has been a large increase in the number of commercial dog and cat foods that are marketed with unusual claims. Many are produced by companies that veterinarians are not familiar with. In the past, when clients were asked what they were feeding, the answers were usually mainstream brands such as Purina, Pedigree, or Alpo and sometimes premium products such as Science Diet, Pro Plan, or Iams/Eukanuba. Today it's no longer surprising when clients tell us they are feeding Blue Buffalo, Instinct, Natural Balance, Weruva, Acana, Halo, Orijen, Canidae, or any number of unusual products. Websites are popping up that claim to be able to rate or "rank" pet food quality. There's no shortage of unorthodox health claims such as "corn is bad", "grains cause allergy", or "raw is best because processed pet foods are harmful". Various diets are marketed as "all-natural", "organic", "holistic", "evolution diet", "whole-prey", "limited ingredient", "rotating protein", etc. The following information is an overview of current information about unconventional pet foods, definitions, and recommendations on evaluating pet food companies and diets. Conventional pet food Commercial pet foods have been manufactured and sold for over 150 years. In the 1920s, Ken- L Ration canned dog food and Gaines dog meal were introduced. The first dry dog food manufactured with an extrusion process was Purina Dog Chow, released in As knowledge of canine and feline nutrition increased, more pet foods were marketed that attempted to be "complete and balanced", meaning that they met all protein, fat, vitamin, and mineral daily requirements. Companies had to figure out ways to differentiate their products from the competition, so extensive advertising and marketing developed. Some of the common ways pet foods have been marketed or positioned include: 1

2 All-purpose vs. specific purpose: some pet foods are formulated to be nutritionally adequate for all life stages including growth, reproduction, and maintenance. Others are formulated for special needs such as weight loss, hairball control, performance, "sensitive stomach (or skin), or "senior" claims. Mass-market vs. premium vs. super-premium: pet foods sold at grocery stores, farm and feed stores, and discount "big box" stores or warehouse clubs tend to be value-oriented with a low to moderate feeding cost. There is no formal definition of "premium" pet foods other than retail price point. It is not an indicator of quality. Premium foods are sold at specialty pet stores and sometimes veterinary clinics, although they are now showing up in some grocery and bigbox stores. They claim to be more palatable, more nutritional, higher quality, natural, or have unusual or exotic ingredients. Premium pet foods appeal to people who are more demanding or consider themselves more informed than average pet owners. They may also equate higher cost with higher quality, and they may prefer personalized service found at pet stores compared with selfserve grocery and discount stores. Flavors and varieties: these appeal to many pets (and owners), and as a result most companies produce a number of products with different ingredients, flavors, textures, shapes, and even colors. Nutrients and additives: essential nutrients may be featured prominently in pet food marketing. Examples include "high-protein", "low-fat", "extra calcium", "rich in omega-3 fatty acids", "with glucosamine", etc. In some cases, nonessential nutrients such as vitamin C are advertised. Commercial complete and balanced pet foods are technically sophisticated products that contain all known nutrients in the right amounts. Human diets are said to be balanced over time, which is a theory that poor eating habits on some days are compensated by healthy eating on other days. However, there is no evidence that this eating pattern contributes to overall health. Pets and other animals fed complete and balanced diets receive far better nutrition than most humans. Unconventional pet food It is not clear when widespread dissatisfaction with commercial pet foods started, but there are obviously many more manufacturers, brands, types, and varieties available today than in the 1990s. The Internet has made it much easier and less expensive for small companies to market 2

3 their products. Pet foods can be shipped directly to pet owners if not available in local stores. The growth of "big-box" pet retailers such as Petsmart and Petco has enabled smaller companies to gain shelf space and compete with large, mainstream companies. Word-of-mouth is now spread through , listservs, and Internet forums, and entire TV networks carry nothing but animal programs, sometimes with dubious nutritional advice. Ratings sites have popped up that use different criteria (often contradictory) to rank pet foods. Pet owners visiting sites such as dogfoodadvisor.com would find that Hill's Science Diet Canine Adult is rated 2.5 out of 5 stars, or 1 out of 6 stars at dogfoodanalysis.com, or 0 out of 5 scoops at dogfoodscoop.com, but at goodguide.com Science Diet products are the 2 nd top-rated brand (behind Purina Pro Plan) with an average rating of 7.4/10 (Pro Plan scored 7.5/10). There is obviously no consistency on how pet foods are rated. Clients should be advised to ignore petfood rating websites. Websites that claim to rate or rank pet foods mainly use ingredient lists. However, ingredients do not indicate the quality of the diet. Premium and unconventional pet foods are marketed or positioned in somewhat different ways than conventional diets: "Natural" there is a legal definition that requires no artificial or chemically synthesized ingredients or additives. Unfortunately, any claim of all-natural is not accurate for most pet foods, as added vitamins and minerals (typically added as a formulated "premix" from an outside manufacturer) are produced in a factory. Taurine is almost always added to cat food and is typically synthetic, not derived from natural food sources. Methionine, lysine, and other amino acids may appear in the ingredient lists and are usually synthetic. Some pet food companies that are honest in their advertising state that their products are "natural" but with vitamins and minerals or other trace nutrients. The best way to interpret a "natural" claim on a pet food label is that no artificial colors, dyes, or preservatives are added by the manufacturer. Pet food labels do not have to list preservatives or additives found in sourced ingredients. Fortunately the body cannot tell whether a particular vitamin or mineral or amino acid is natural or synthetic as long as the chemical structure is the same. 3 The disclaimer with vitamins and minerals is required to be no smaller than one-half the size of the typeface used for the word natural.

4 "Organic" this term refers more to the processing rather than the finished product. USDA organic standards describe how farmers can grow crops and raise livestock while avoiding synthetic materials. The organic process includes no synthetic pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, hormones, or GMOs. At the present time, no pet food can be considered 100% organic because of the need to add inorganic ingredients including meals, certain fats and oils, vitamins, minerals, and trace nutrients. "Holistic" - this term has no official definition. A small number of pet foods include the term in the product name (e.g. Holistic Select, Earthborn Holistic) but most companies use the term in advertising rather than directly on a label. Holistic is more of a lifestyle or philosophy than a descriptor of pet food. "Human grade" - this phrase is often used to market diets on the presumption of safety and quality. The FDA warns that pet food claims such as "USDA certified", USDA inspected", or "human grade" must not be false or misleading under Section 403(a)(1). According to AAFCO "human grade" or "human quality" currently have no legal definition but a committee is considering options. The human food supply is subject to bacterial contamination and other safety issues. Product recalls occur almost daily and outbreaks of human food-related illness are frequent. Therefore, human food should not be assumed to be safer than pet food. "Raw" - some pet owners believe that food in its natural, uncooked state is healthier than cooked or processed food. Or they may have been told that nutrients and enzymes are destroyed during the cooking process, leading to loss. Proponents of raw feeding claim that dogs and cats in the wild eat uncooked food sources, and therefore pets should do the same. Raw pet foods are sometimes complete and balanced and sold in frozen, refrigerated, or dehydrated dry kibble formulations. A more common approach is for owners to feed raw meat (with or without bones) alone or supplemented with various ingredients or additives. Almost all board-certified nutritionists advise against feeding raw diets. The most common problems with raw food are bacterial and parasite contamination, not complete and balanced, and risks if bones are fed. 4

5 Additives - consumers may not recognize or understand why flavors, preservatives, colors, binders, emulsifiers, antioxidants, etc. are added to pet food and may try to avoid them. However, all serve a function (with the possible exception of color, which appeals to some owners rather than pets) and are not added by manufacturers unless there is a specific reason. Inclusion or exclusion of specific ingredients - a current trend is for pet foods to be advertised as "no corn" or "no soy" or more broadly "grain-free" (or glutenfree ). Avoidance of by-products and fillers is a common claim although many pet owners (and veterinarians) may not be sure exactly what these terms refer to. On the other hand, some unconventional pet foods include "wholesome grains" and it is far from clear which animals benefit from diets "with grains" or "grain-free". Keep in mind that the main reason pet foods are labeled as -free is marketing, not nutrition or health. Avoidance of contaminants and toxins - pet owners and veterinarians are justifiably worried that commercial pet food can be accidentally or intentionally contaminated with substances such as aflatoxin or melamine. Salmonella contamination occurs in commercial dry diets as well as frozen and refrigerated products (rarely in canned diets). There is currently no way to tell which products, brands, or companies are more or less likely to have problems with contamination. Both large, well-known corporations and smaller family companies have had to recall diets for various reasons. Preservatives - these may have a bad reputation but in fact all dry pet foods must be preserved so that the shelf-life can be one year or longer. An unpreserved dry diet would spoil within days just as a loaf of fresh bread typically spoils within a week depending on humidity, temperature, wrapping, etc. Canned pet foods are heated to high temperatures and do not need preservatives, but after opening the can the food must be stored in the refrigerator for only 1-2 days before spoilage and rancidity starts to occur. Pet owners may desire "natural" preservatives instead of "artificial" chemicals such as BHA and BHT but there is no known health benefit or risk of choosing one or the other. 5

6 Evaluating unconventional diets Veterinarians are often asked what they think about certain brands of pet food or companies. Or if clients are quizzed about what they are feeding, the diets can be unfamiliar and veterinarians are not sure if they should recommend something else. There are few if any high-quality comparative studies of different pet foods, so scientific research is not much help in determining which pet foods should be recommended or advised against. The following are some approaches that may help in pet food company evaluation. 1. Has the company been in business a long time and established a reputation for quality? Is it a local family-owned company or large multi-national corporation? 2. Does the company conduct research and publish results in peer-reviewed journals, newsletters, and textbooks? Innovations in pet nutrition often come from original and applied research performed at or funded by the large companies. 3. Is the company involved in supporting the veterinary profession by awarding grants to researchers, sponsoring clinical nutrition residencies and positions at veterinary schools, granting scholarships to veterinary students, and sponsoring continuing education meetings? 4. Are the company's products tested according to AAFCO feeding protocols? The majority of pet foods marketed by small companies are not fed to any animals prior to sale. That means that owners and their pets are the "guinea pigs" when new diets are introduced. Large companies conduct various types of feeding trials in colony animals to measure digestibility, palatability, effects on stool or skin and coat, etc. before selling products. An AAFCO feeding statement on a label is not a guarantee of quality but provides some assurance that no adverse effects occurred in a short-term trial. Many high-quality diets, especially veterinary therapeutic diets formulated to address health concerns, are not fed in AAFCO protocols for healthy animals. 5. Does the company employ any veterinarians, ideally board-certified veterinary nutritionists? Can you call the company with questions about diets, medical cases, and to get advice? 6

7 6. Will the company supply you with a product guide that includes a complete nutritional analysis of each medical and premium diet? It is expensive to run analyses on finished pet foods, and smaller companies may not have the resources to perform these tests. 7. What kind of quality control is performed? Is each batch of raw ingredients and finished diet tested for common contaminants and toxins? 8. Is the company's advertising and marketing factual and informative? Websites, brochures, and advertisements that are not part of the product label are not subject to as much regulatory oversight. Based on these criteria, most veterinary nutritionists are comfortable recommending products from three multinational pet food companies: Mars Petcare (including Iams, Eukanuba, Royal Canin), Nestlé Purina, and Hill's. They fulfill the listed criteria and support the profession. These companies have responded to the growth in demand for "natural" and unconventional products with new lines and brands. Some examples of "natural" diets offered by large companies that may satisfy demanding owners include Hill's Ideal Balance, Purina Beyond and Muse, Iams Healthy Naturals and Naturistics, and Nutro. Royal Canin uses a nutrient-based rather than ingredient-based approach to pet nutrition and so does not formulate diets for marketing purposes alone (such as grain-free or no by-products ). Because there are hundreds of different dog and cat foods to choose from, veterinarians cannot be familiar with all of the options. Clients can be encouraged to call pet food companies, ask questions, gather information, and then discuss their results to help narrow down potential diets. Then whenever a new diet is fed, the animal should have a gradual transition over 5-7 days and then careful attention paid to stool quality, skin and coat, appetite, etc. Why should veterinarians trust large companies more than smaller ones? One of the often overlooked reasons is attention to quality testing and food safety. Large companies typically run many more tests and more often than smaller companies. Testing and quality control is very expensive when done correctly. Smaller companies may not have the expertise or budget to do so, or they may decide to spend money on marketing and advertising. 7

8 When I am asked for an opinion about a pet food or company I'm not familiar with, I first look up the website and see if the information is helpful or misleading. Some of the red flags I look for include: "carnivore diet" - dogs are ominvores, not carnivores (although are sometimes called facultative carnivores ) so their diet cannot be all-meat. "no by-products" - this is not an indication of quality, as some by-products such as organ meat are actually higher-quality and more digestible than striate muscle ("meat ). By-products used in pet food in the U.S. are often considered delicacies in other countries. For example, steak and kidney pie (England), tripe (Europe), haggis (Scotland), and sweetbreads (Central and South America) are all organ meats defined as by-products. "grain-free" is likewise not an indication of quality or safety, as very few animals cannot tolerate common foods such as rice, wheat, barley, corn, oats, sorghum, or similar plant-based ingredients. Companies simply substitute potatoes, peas, beans, cassava, or other plant products but there is no evidence that these are superior to cereal grains. "veterinarian-approved" or "AAFCO-approved" are technically illegal statements and misleading. AAFCO does not approve products - instead, it publishes protocols and guidelines but actual testing is done by others. Clients may not understand that grain-free does not mean carb-free or starch-free or plant-free. All dry diets have some source of carbohydrate they are not all-meat. "raw" diets are most often not complete and balanced, and therefore not appropriate for exclusive or long-term feeding. A small number of raw products claim to be 100% complete and balanced but there's an increased risk of bacterial contamination both to the pet and owners who handle the raw diet. The FDA and public health authorities strongly discourage raw feeding of pets. Pet visitation programs to hospitals and other care facilities often prohibit any animals that are fed raw. If an owner insists on purchasing a raw diet, ask if the product can be microwaved or heated in an oven to a safe temperature. 8

9 As with any pet food, the main question is how it performs in the pet. If the animal's weight and body condition score is appropriate, the skin and haircoat are healthy, stools are normal, activity levels are appropriate, and labwork and other diagnostic tests are acceptable, then even unconventional diets may be fine. However, nutrient deficiencies and excesses can take years to develop and then may be subtle, so there's no long-term assurance. Whenever possible, owners should be educated on how pet foods are advertised and marketed so that misleading and false claims do not influence the choice of diets. Websites not associated with pet food companies are available and contain information that may be helpful to veterinarians and pet owners:

Reading nutrition labels is important when choosing dog food. WebMD shows you how.

Page 1 of 3 Article Link: http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/how-to-read-a-dog-food-label?page=3 Healthy Dogs How to Read a Dog Food Label Reading nutrition labels is important when choosing dog food. WebMD