Grain Free Food Warnings

[Erin]

Hello all! My doodle currently eats Zignature Trout and Salmon grain free after trying Orijen for many months and him being constipated from it. He has done great on Zignature now for almost 3 yrs but my vet and many breeders I follow are now warning against grain free diets (especially those high in potatoes and legumes) because of the effects on the heart. Is this something I need to be worried about?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

And of course, then we have this; proof that the corporations are behind these FDA reports.

 In 1990, Congress forced the FDA to allow health claims in general as part of the nutrition labeling act.  In 1994, Congress passed the dietary supplement act that essentially deregulated these products and allowed “structure/function” claims for them.  Food companies wanted to use them too.  Whenever the FDA objected that science didn’t support the claims, supplement companies took the FDA to court.  In 2003, the FDA gave up: “We have lost 8 of 10 First Amendment decisions, and doing business the way we were doing it was unsustainable” (New York Times, July 6, 2003).  The so-called qualified health claims are the absurd result.

https://www.foodpolitics.com/2019/06/fda-approves-qualified-health-...

[Stacy]

For those following along here, I stumbled upon this article this morning: 

https://drjeandoddspethealthresource.tumblr.com/post/176405475391/f...

I admit that I don't understand all the nuances that they're talking about - nutrition is hard. But I pulled out a couple quotes that I thought were particularly relevant:

No research has been conducted yet to determine if grain-free diets could cause heart disease in dogs.

The FDA is simply stating a trend. These types of trends lead to much needed research.  

The FDA is not dismissing the prior research as invalid. As the FDA puts it, “The underlying cause of DCM is not truly known, but is thought to have a genetic component.”

The FDA is also not saying you should stop feeding grain-free foods.

I also just noticed that this article is dated a year ago, so it might just be old news.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Jean Dodds is fairly controversial, so while I agree with what she says in this article, it wouldn;t fly if you tried posting it in one of the "grainfree foods cause heart disease" threads because someone will say "Oh Jean Dodds, she's a quack."

What I really like about this article is that it cites the 2003 studies on taurine deficient DCM in Newfoundlands, and concluded that it was caused by lamb and rice diets. Same thing as what's going on now except that there wasn't a social media campaign attached to it. Of course, they've since found that lamb and rice diets had nothing to do with it, and that it was entirely genetic, which I'm sure is what's going to happen with the current non-issue. 

But it goes to show you that grains (rice is a grain) in the food don't do a thing to prevent diet-related DCM. 

[Stacy]

https://www.earthmd.ca/blogs/health-and-nutrition-in-our-pets/dcm-a...

Another more recent interesting article. I swear I'm not looking for these, facebook stalks my brain. Just thought someone might be interested.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

And here's what I like about this article, which also cites the 2003 lamb and rice studies:

 However, even if their chart were to happen 100% accurately, that would be 0.016% of dogs eating Acana (the most common food reported to be correlated with DCM) would be affected, and even fewer (0.0029% of dogs) would die from DCM. That is under 3 dogs in 100,000 eating Acana would die from diagnosed DCM. As a comparison, according to the FDA, about 1 in 1000 dogs die from using the flea medication Bravecto yet that is still widely used.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm hoping that you are not looking for these articles to reassure yourself that you're not killing your dogs by feeding them something other than Purina, Hill's, or Royal Canin. 

[Stacy]

I'm not looking for them at all. But I feel compelled to read them when they pop up. And then I feel very vindicated when I can say, See? That's exactly what I said! I guess it makes me feel good when someone else agrees with us!

[Amy and Annabelle]

I consider Purina the Monsanto of dog food.

[Stacy]

I continue to be so surprised at how many recommendations for Purina I see online. I didn't know people still fed Purina. Of course someone must buy the dog food at the grocery store...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Many breeders feed Pro Plan. Even good purebred show breeders. Purina sponsors a lot of breed club events. They have a huge facility in Missouri, Purina Farms, where they offer all kinds of performance events, seminars for breeders and pet professionals, family activities, etc. Most of the purebred breed clubs hold their National Specialty Shows there. Lots of opportunities for a lot of influence.  https://www.purina.com/about-purina/purina-farms/visit

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Riley came home on Pro plan....I felt so weird buying the bag for her first two weeks home lol. :(

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Purina is owned by Nestle-Purina, which is a division of Nestle Corporation. 

 Nestlé is the largest food and beverage company in the world, selling $94 billion worth of products in 2018.  

Enough said. :(