Interesting article I have has stashed away for sometime. The term fibre (or roughage) applies to complex carbohydrates that are resistant to mammalian digestive enzymes, although certain bacteria possess the enzymes needed to break them down. Even ruminants, with their four-chambered stomachs and cud-chewing habits, must still rely on their symbiotic rumen bacteria to digest plant fibre. Fibre is found only in plants and vegetables — hair, hooves, bones, fish scales and feathers do not contain any fibre. Fibre is composed of polysaccharides (complex sugars), and are found in plant cell walls, where they provide structural strength and rigidity. Sources of fibre commonly used in pet food include beet pulp, peanut shells, oat and other brans, tomato pommace, buckwheat and other grain hulls, psyllium, fruit pectin, guar gum and other gums, flaxseed, and powdered cellulose. This last one is defined as purified, mechanically disintegrated cellulose . . . from fibrous plant materials. I fondly refer to it as sawdust, which I believe is a fair description (though technically, wood contains a related fibre called lignin in addition to cellulose.) BARF diets contain varying amounts of vegetable/plant cellulose. Large amounts of cellulose (crude fibre) can reverse the digestive processes. It speeds up the passage of food through the stomach and small intestine, lowering its nutritional value, and slows the passage of food through the colon, potentially generating enormous quantities of damaging bacteria and creating widespread allergies. The inclusion of cellulose in a raw diet lowers the nutritional value of the food and binds many of the minerals, making them unavailable to the body for bone building and repair. Soybeans are included in many foods as an inexpensive source of protein. Soy also contains ovulation-suppressing factors which can interfere with reproduction. Ingredients such as beet pulp, cellulose flour, tomato pomace, and alfalfa may be included in products All of these ingredients contain saponins except cellulose flour, which contains alkali which can burn a dogs intestinal tissue. Dry commercial diets are responsible for a whole host of breakdown conditions including: breakdowns during growth, allergies, gastrointestinal problems, reproductive problems, bloat, torsion, and many others. Because the causes are food-related, the solutions are food-related as well. In an attempt to solve or prevent these problems, an industry has emerged in which frozen raw meat is added to plant matter or offered in various blends to be added to dry commercial rations. It is assumed that these problems will disappear if raw meat is substituted for the foundation ingredients in dry diets. This has not happened. The problem with the current prepackaged commercial raw diets is that most of them are primarily composed of plant matter which is indigestible to the dog even though it is well known that feeding raw plant matter exclusively to dogs will result in starvation, because dogs do not produce the enzymes needed to break down cellulose (there are many other reasons as well). In the 50s, the largest producer of dry diets circulated an absurd notion that dogs consumed mostly the plant matter contained in the internal organs of their prey, justifying the production of kibble composed mostly of highly processed grain. This mistake is now being applied to try to justify the use of voluminous amounts of raw vegetables which are included in today’s raw diets. Grain can be used by dogs if it is highly processed. Raw vegetables cannot, regardless of whether they are masticated by the animal or ground mechanically by blending. In addition, the pulp produced is not suitable to the feeding of carnivores. In short, while raw diets are supposed to prevent the problems created by commercial kibble, the concept of them, is so faulty that their remedial effects are put in doubt. Beet pulp, sodium bentonite and cellulose flour artificially harden stools by absorbing large quantities of water and expanding to such a large degree that they slow the passage of food and fibre through the large intestine. The large intestine, or colon, is where the body extracts the moisture from the forming stool, therefore the longer the period of time the material spends in the colon, the harder and drier the resulting stool. In some cases feeding these unnatural foods can cause harmful effects. These are often used as inexpensive substitutes in pet food and deprive the animal of its normal nutritional requirements and can cause allergies and other conditions. Soy products, rice, corn, wheat, peas, and potato are poor, inexpensive fillers used by commercial pet food companies. The cereal grains used in pet food are commonly unfit for human consumption due to yeast, mold, and fungal contamination which can produce potent toxins. Dogs and cats have not evolved rumens, which are specialized stomachs seen in herbivores, in order to ferment cellulose and other plant material, nor have their pancreases evolved a way to secrete the enzyme cellulase to split the cellulose into glucose molecules. Dogs and cats have not become efficient at digesting and assimilating and utilizing plant material as a source of protein. The diet affects endotoxin production. When non-digestible cellulose or hemicellulose fiber accumulates and ferments in the colon, aerobic bacteria increase 100 to 1000 times. Most pet foods have high concentrations of undigestible matter, thereby supporting aerobic bacterial growth better than other foods. In addition to using for minimizing the production and absorption of endotoxin in the digestive system, attention should be paid to reducing endotoxin levels in pet foods. The fiber content should be minimal, most manufactured raw diets contain enormous amounts of vegetable cellulose. Large amounts of cellulose (crude fiber) can reverse the digestive processes. It speeds up the passage of food through the stomach and small intestine, lowering its nutritional value, and slows the passage of food through the colon, potentially generating enormous quantities of damaging bacteria and creating widespread allergies. Raw diets contain a small quantity of meat-based fiber. A carnivore does not have the enzymes in their mouth or digestive tract to digest plant matter, so it takes much longer to pass through and clogs up their system disrupting digestion and nutrient absorption (and if you notice, it still comes out pretty much as it went in). The dog/wolf evolved to obtain all the nutrients it needs from raw whole prey - meat, bones, and organs. Their much stronger acidity dissolves bone, but can not break down tough cellulose found in plants. Herbivores have a particular bacteria inside their bodies to help break down plant matter in a fermentation process so that nutrients are released. That bacteria cant survive in a carnivore digestive system if the animal is in good health.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 11:54:19 +0000
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