Grain-free pet foods…why???
A recent marketing push in pet foods has been towards grain-free diets, primarily for dry foods. Some of the bonuses to a grain-free diet are proposed to be that animals stay fuller for longer while eating less frequently and food allergies may be reduced.
A couple of things to remember about grain-free diets is that while they may not have grains, they do indeed have carbohydrates, often in levels substantially above other foods that do include grains. Grains are an excellent source of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, while the alternate ingredients; tend to be high starch foods, with little to no protein or fats. Many of the foods include potatoes, chickpeas, taro, and tapioca.
As for prolonged satiety, the carbohydrate alternatives used instead of grains tend to have much lower fiber content than do grains, and can actually have decreased digestive times, causing the stomach to empty sooner, leading to decreased satiety. This would cause the animal to be hungry sooner than with a higher fiber diet; that includes grains.
As stated under LO5, with the exception of wheat, no grain is recognized as a common allergenic source. For the product wheat gluten, celiac disease is uncommon in dogs, so a gluten-free diet is of no benefit, and actually deprives them of an excellent source of protein in the form of gluten. Gluten intolerance has only been reported in an extremely small subset of Irish Setters in the UK.
Even more concerning, veterinary cardiologists have noticed an upturn in the number of Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) cases they're seeing where owners have been feeding either grain-free diets or boutique diets. While taurine deficiency has been known to contribute to the development of DCM in cats and dogs, we are currently unsure how the absence of grains in the diets may be contributing to this increase in cases seen. Dogs who were taurine deficient were supplemented successfully, and even dogs with normal blood levels responded positively to taurine supplementation. Fortunately, if caught early enough, and medications prescribed, along with a change in food, improvements can be seen.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and veterinarians are currently looking into this problem to see what is causing the issue, and how best to address it. For any animal currently eating a grain-free, boutique food, or one composed of exotic ingredients, the current recommendation is to switch to a complete and balanced commercial food that has undergone AAFCO approved feeding trials. This information will be provided on the package labeling.
Source: NAVC
