I'm going to tackle a few topics in one quick post.
Many companies may get your attention by labeling or advertising that meat is the first ingredient in their Dog Food. As it should be!!
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
Ingredients on nutrition labels are always listed by greatest to least in terms of weight.
And unfortunately, a lot of companies are doing what is called 'ingredient splitting.'
I often see ingredient labels with meat first, and then it usually goes something like:
Pea flour
Chickpea
Peas
Chickpea flour
Pea protein
There, now carbohydrates have successfully outweighed the meat ratio.
Meat may be listed first, but when the next 5.. yes I said it, when the next FIVE ingredients are grain, lentil or other carbohydrate source .. it outweighs the original meat ration.
This is now a carbohydrate rich food.
High carbohydrate diets are bad for anyone, but especially the animals who are meant to eat only meat. In the wild, cats and dogs would be exposed to about 3-6% carbs with a primordial diet. While most commercial kibble is about 30-60% carbohydrate!
This can cause a multitude of issues:
Diabetes
Obesity
Dental Disease
Inflammation
Dysbiosis (imbalanced gut bacteria)
And more!
Here's where things get even more tricky.. Peas are high in Lectins.
Lectins are considered an 'anti-nutrient' and attack the intestinal wall to inhibit absorption of nutrients, and cause inflammation, that can lead to leaky gut.
Plant based diets can also create deficiencies in cats and dogs.
Have you heard of the DCM and Grain Free Diet craziness?
Well, here it is. When the ratios are off, so is the amount of nutrients your pet can absorb and deficiencies can occur.
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