Historically, Highly Processed foods have never been a part of the canine diet. They have only been introduced to these foods within the last 80 years.
Due to processed diets 46% of dogs now die of cancer, 40% of dogs are obese and heart, kidney and liver disease are epidemic.
Lifeless Food
Commercial kibbles not only harbour harmful toxins, they are also stripped of much of their nutrient value, becoming a “dead” food product.
Unfortunately, many well intentioned consumers who want to give their pet a high quality commercial diet choose to buy expensive, “grain free” kibbles, with claims of all natural – or even organic – ingredients, believing they are purchasing a more nutritious pet food.
But the fact is, even if these kibbles contain high quality ingredients with no preservatives, fillers or additives, they are still going through a cooking process which ultimately nullifies much of the nutritional value these quality ingredients would have contributed.
The kibble is left with proteins that have been denatured, enzymes that are rendered inactive, and any natural, beneficial microflora (good bacteria) are no longer viable.
These components are all extremely important and provide a synergistic effect for the complete digestion, absorption and assimilation of nutrients from the food.
Starch
Most dry dog foods contain at least 30% starch. The average starch content is 40% and some dry foods can contain up to 60% starch. Those carbohydrates don’t just keep costs down for the pet food manufacturer – they’re an important part of the extrusion process. Starch gelatinizes when it’s exposed to heat and moisture during extrusion – and this gelatinization helps to bind the food into kibble form.
So while dogs need protein and fat in their diet to survive, they have zero requirement for starch. So the starch isn’t put in pet foods because your dog needs it. It’s in there so they can produce billions of bags a year at a cheap cost.
Synthetic Fortification
Manufacturers try to add back some of the lost nutritional value with synthetic vitamins and minerals to their formulas.
However, studies show that these synthetic vitamins can actually cause more harm than good to our pets, because the body cannot completely utilise them and instead it will processes them as a foreign substance, causing more stress to the liver and kidneys.
processed vs Raw
When the exact same food is eaten, there is a 5 times higher risk of an allergic reaction to food eaten in a processed form than there is when eaten in a raw or unaltered state. This is because commercially prepared foods cooked at high temperatures creates new antigens that pose a higher risk of an immune reaction, especially with pets that already suffer from a compromised immune system.
Like people, dogs are what they eat. Save your dog a lot of suffering by learning the truth about your dog’s diet.
