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Is it Peas, Processing, or a Combination?

Veterinarians are researching a potential link between grain free pet foods to taurine-deficient dilated cardiomyopathy in dogs. The early suspicion is towards legume ingredients. But does pet food processing (along with transportation and storage) also play a role in nutrient deficient illness?

Veterinarians are researching a potential link between grain free pet foods to taurine-deficient dilated cardiomyopathy in dogs. The early suspicion is towards legume ingredients. But does pet food processing (along with transportation and storage) also play a role in nutrient deficient illness?

What is dilated cardiomyopathy?

From Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine: “DCM is a disease of the heart muscle that results in weakened contractions and poor pumping ability. As the disease progresses the heart chambers become enlarged, one or more valves may leak, and signs of congestive heart failure develop.”

Dr. Joshua Stern of U.C. Davis has been studying/documenting cases of taurine-deficient dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in Golden Retriever dogs a little over a year. His research has connected “diets of concern” in diagnosed Golden Retrievers as grain free kibble diets; pet foods that contain high levels of legume ingredients (pea ingredients most commonly used). Some of the dogs diagnosed have experienced a reversal of DCM through a change of diet and taurine supplementation (supervised by veterinarians).

From a document published by Veterinary Cardiology Specialists:

Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) is becoming more prevalent in golden retrievers. Dr. Joshua Stern, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (Cardiology) at UC Davis, starting seeing a pattern and recognized that many cases were due to dietary taurine deficiency in golden retrievers fed grain free diets. Here is what we know so far:

Background

Taurine is an amino acid that is found in high concentrations in heart and muscle. Among its many functions, it aids in normal contractile function. Evidence shows that taurine helps mediate calcium channel transports and modulates calcium sensitivity of the myofibrils.

Taurine deficiency as a cause of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is not a new issue. Taurine deficiency in cats was characterized by Pion et al in the late 1980s. Taurine deficiency has since been characterized as a cause of acquired DCM in dogs as well.

Currently identified diets of concern in these golden retrievers

According to Dr. Stern, the majority of cases they are seeing at UC Davis are from grain free diets that are high in legumes, like acana pork and squash singles.

Dr. Stern of U.C. Davis stated in an open letter from 2017: “Unfortunately, many owners have identified concerns and proceeded with supplementation or diet change without first obtaining appropriate diagnostic criteria. This approach has led to more confusion and an inability to definitively say whether some dogs have an inherited cardiomyopathy or a nutritionally derived heart disease.”

It is significant for pet owners to work with their veterinarian if they suspect any heart issue AND it is significant for practicing veterinarians to report all suspect “nutritionally derived heart disease” to Dr. Stern. The science behind the suspicions must be documented.

Note in the above information from Veterinary Cardiology Specialists – under “Currently identified diets of concern” – the document specified diets “like Acana pork and squash singles”. Provided to TruthaboutPetFood.com by an anonymous source – Champion Pet Food (manufacturer of Acana and Orijen pet foods) stated to a consumer:

All our ACANA and ORIJEN diets are formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO dog food nutrient profiles for all life stages. Cysteine and methionine content are available for taurine production in the dog’s body, and taurine itself is naturally present from the meat ingredients we include in the food.

Further discussion.

From the National Research Council: “Dogs do not require taurine in their diet as they can manufacture it from sulfur containing amino acids. Thus, as long as there is sufficient dietary cysteine and/or methionine the dog will be able to synthesize ample taurine. Sufficient methionine is defined as 1.2g per day/1000kcal food equivalent; total sulfur containing amino acids should constitute more than 1.4g/1000kcal food.”

Is it the processing that should be closely examined as a potential cause of taurine deficiency?

Meat contains taurine. Meat contains cysteine and methionine. As example, from “The potential protective effects of taurine on coronary heart disease” – 100 grams of raw beef contains 43.1 mg of taurine. Broiled beef per 100 grams contains 38.4 mg of taurine. Chicken (light meat) raw per 100 grams contains 17.5 mg of taurine – broiled chicken (light meat) per 100 grams contains 14.5 mg of taurine.

In other words, with normal processing (example broiling) taurine levels in meat should be sufficient for dogs and cats; we should not be seeing nutritionally derived taurine deficient Dilated Cardiomyopathy in pets. But (most) pet food ingredients are not subject to normal processing.

Borrowed from a 2016 TruthaboutPetFood.com post…

kibble ingredients

Quoted text below is from MadeHow.com.

Emphasis added in the following for heat or cooking of ingredients…

Kibble is a cooked dough-type pet food (comparable to dough used to make a cookie or a cracker – with meat). Because it is made from dough, all ingredients in a kibble pet food need to be ground fine before mixing. Raw ingredients are “brought together in a mixer” with added supplements (mixer can hold 10,000 pounds or more of ingredients). Next the dough “is heated in the preconditioner prior to introduction to the extruder.” “The extruder, essentially a giant meat grinder, is where the primary cooking phase for dry extruded pet food products occurs. The dough is cooked under intense heat and pressure as it moves toward the open end of the extruder.” At the end of the extruder the dough is forced through a “shaping die” and cut into desired shape. “Kibble is dried in an oven until its moisture content is low enough to make it shelf stable like a cookie or cracker.”

And then there is the consideration of meat meal ingredients (common to kibble and some canned pet foods)…

meatmeal

Meat meals are made by finely grinding meat and bone. Actually many meat meals are sourced from animal “frames” (skeletal remains after mechanical separation of meat) that contain very little meat. The ground material is cooked and separated from the remaining moisture. The solids are dried into a powder like substance (above – meat meal). This processing occurs before ingredients arrive at the pet food plant (where it is cooked again in the pet food).

All of this processing destroys the natural nutrient content of the meat (if there is any actual meat in the pet food to begin with) including destruction of amino acids such as cysteine and/or methionine used to produce taurine.

And then…if by chance the proper level of required amino acids (such as cysteine and/or methionine for dogs to produce taurine) is in the pet food immediately after all of this processing, we then have the concern of heat exposure in warehousing and during transportation – which can further destroy nutrients. All kibble and canned pet foods are warehoused in non-climate controlled buildings at the manufacturer, at the distributor and in delivery trailers. (The only pet foods that are warehoused and transported under refrigeration are raw or lightly cooked sold frozen.)

What we really need is veterinarians to take a close examination of the processing of some pet foods. The role that processing and warehousing might play in nutritionally derived taurine deficient Dilated Cardiomyopathy in pets (as well as other nutritionally derived illnesses). All that is known about the destruction of nutrients in human food due to processing is slow to progress to the pet food industry. This needs to change.

 

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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27 Comments

27 Comments

  1. Dian

    May 29, 2018 at 1:06 pm

    I look forward to your newsletter

  2. Maddie

    May 29, 2018 at 1:10 pm

    When I learned about the extrusion process, I wondered how any nutrients could remain. If that process eliminates the nutrients, then it is understandable why the addition of vitamins and minerals is so important. Basically, you could process anything (ie., feathers instead of meat meals) and add the vitamins and minerals and it would be considered ‘balanced’.
    Yet those who feed home-cooked or raw are still questioned about how balanced those diet are.

  3. Leanne

    May 29, 2018 at 2:46 pm

    I’ve noticed this with my cat. Even a really really expensive, quality kibble with lots of meat, if it also has legumes, the cat’s fur and skin deteriorate rapidly. The same happens to vegans who eat a lot of beans–health declines after a steady diet for a prolonged period. Phytic acid. This is why asian cultures eat fermented soy and bean products. In fact, I believe soy crops were used for hundreds of years solely to fix nitrogen in the soil to improve soil fertility. Only when someone figured out that if they fermented soy into another product did it become suitable for human consumption.

  4. Peter

    May 29, 2018 at 3:49 pm

    Cystinuria in dogs may result in a taurine deficiency and certain breeds of dogs like American Cockers, Boxers and Newfoundlands may be unable to convert cysteine and methionine to taurine. Perhaps we should add Goldens to this list. In other words, cardiomyopathy may have little to do with legumes and much to do with a genetic defect.

    • Martha Glew

      June 3, 2018 at 5:30 pm

      Certainly their is a genetic component to low taurine dilated cardiomyopathy. It is showing up mostly in golden retrievers, the breeds you mention above, and many others too.
      This nutrionally deficient DCM is genetic in that some breeds are more predisposed than others, but it’s not like it’s one particular line of breeding. (Think of lactose intolerance in Asians.)

  5. Andi

    May 29, 2018 at 4:23 pm

    There is plenty of taurine in Muscle Meat and Organs. The only reason the “pea” diets are coming up with less taurine than needed is because they are using the pea protein to carry the need for protein. It’s very inexpensive, compared to high quality chicken or beef. KIBBLE IS AWFUL and should NEVER be used. Even if a manufacturer has the greatest “organic ingredients”. By the time they cook, then bake, then extrude the ingredients. They are all made quite useless by the “over processing”. Please don’t use dry food. Make your own food. Your pets will love you a lot longer! xoxox

  6. Christine Lee

    May 29, 2018 at 7:49 pm

    I remember learning as a very young adult, (decades ago ?), that peas should not be fed to dogs. I can’t remember the why so much. I now feed raw to my dogs, but I have always wondered why so many kibble ranges included peas/legumes. And WHY are they including vegetable in cat food when cats cannot digest it? The only possible reason would be as fillers to bulk out the product and reduce cost, even though these products are selling well above their cost of production . Animal health trailing well behind profit margins….

  7. jennifer hahn

    May 29, 2018 at 7:49 pm

    The bandwagon is full of fillers that are all just as bad as the next. Food trends…….really bad news. just use meat fro god sdake-and call it a day.

  8. jennifer hahn

    May 29, 2018 at 7:51 pm

    save th egiblets , us ethe bitcher to get liver, heart, the stomach stuff-freeze it and use a meat grinder-make a ate for the pets-yummy -like liver pate at the zabars but better –

    • Tryniti

      May 30, 2018 at 12:44 pm

      What??

  9. Terri Christenson Janson

    May 30, 2018 at 2:48 pm

    I homecook and supplement with kibble. I have begun adding in Taurine as well before I had read about this.

  10. Leslie Rosenbloom

    May 30, 2018 at 9:21 pm

    Watch out about adding too much Taurine. I can cause elevated heart rates and it’s own set of problem. Ask before just diving in and dosing.

    • Terri Christenson Janson

      June 4, 2018 at 11:42 am

      Thank you. Yes i have the recommended dosage given to me by my dog group. He had a Grand Mal seizure. He is a 55 pound Border Collie aged 5.5. I give him half of an 1/8 tsp of powdered Taurine. Plus spray him with Magnesium Chloride spray on his skin like I do to myself. 🙂

      • Zac Chernik

        June 4, 2018 at 4:49 pm

        What dog food or is he on raw?

        • Terri Christenson Janson

          June 13, 2018 at 1:36 pm

          I homecook and supplement with NutriSource grainfree. He has always been fed a homemade diet. Cooked and raw.

  11. Linda Creager

    May 31, 2018 at 6:04 pm

    I feed my 20 lb dog dry grain free kibble mixed with cooked chicken twice a day. Am I missing something in her diet?

  12. Pingback: Where’s the Beef? – The Healthy Dog Workshop

  13. Cathy Bienvenue

    June 6, 2018 at 2:55 pm

    Aside from the presence of mycotoxins / aflatoxin in corn, replacing grains with legumes doesn’t make a bad food better or worse. It may cause some irritable bowel symptoms in some susceptible dogs. It’s basically replacing one starch with another. But if it is HCM caused by a taurine deficiency then check the taurine content in the food and find out why it correlates instead of simply blaming the peas.

    • Cat Stuart

      June 6, 2018 at 4:14 pm

      Meant DCM not HCM

  14. Martha Glew

    June 6, 2018 at 6:24 pm

    I think that there could be a bit of a misstanding?
    The AAFCO sets a minimum standard for cysteine and methionine. It does not set a minimum for taurine. Sending a sample of dog food in for analysis will not be necessarily be helpful, as dog food companies are not held accountable for this amino acid.
    What is extremely beneficial is getting a whole blood taurine test if a dog has been on grain free foods. With the exception of a very few instances, all golden retrievers (and some other breeds that are documented) with taurine deficient DCM were eating grain free foods, and all GF foods met AAFCO guidelines. I’ve heard that other breeds can get acquired DCM from grain free foods, but not have low blood taurine.
    Some exceptions where there was acquired DCM from non GF foods include poorly formulated home cooked diets.
    Peas are often included in grain free foods in place of meat protein sources. It’s good practice to look at dog food bags to see if peas are used, where they are in the ingredient list, and if there are different peas listed. For example, green peas, whole peas, pea fiber, pea protein, yellow peas, pea starch. This is a tricky practice called ingredient splitting. They are all peas.
    Are peas directly causing DCM? I have no idea,I don’t think there is any scientific proof. Nutritional scientists believe the problem is more linked to poor digestibility of the dog foods. It’s ok to call dog food companies and ask directly how digestible a kibble is. They should be able to help you.

    • Christine

      June 9, 2018 at 9:11 pm

      Of course an important thing to ask is how much of the protein is from muscle meat and how much is from vegetable proteins. Remember that vegetables contain almost no naturally occurring taurine, so a large percentage of the protein being from peas and other vegetable proteins leave you with a taurine deficient food. Combine this with the high heat processing (taurine is especially sensitive to heat and is easily destroyed) many kibbles will be a very pour source of the amino acids they need. Supplementing with whole food sources of naturally occurring taurine (fresh or freeze dried chicken/beef/turkey hearts are perfect) will go very far in helping animals on kibble diets meet their needs. Studies have shown that low taurine levels in their blood can be rapidly remedied by taurine supplementation. Luckily it’s very very easy to do! Supplementing with whole foods allows you to safely provide them with the best source of taurine without the big risk of overdosing, as you could do easily with synthetic supplements.

  15. Cathy Bienvenue

    June 6, 2018 at 6:35 pm

    Meant DCM not HCM

  16. CHaCha

    August 2, 2018 at 4:21 am

    Not sure if We should believe or trust the FDA, AFFCO, or Vets/Schools like UC DAVIS, TUFTS UNIVERSITY etc as many are funded by BIG CORP PET FOOD MFGs n or their LOBBIEST like Iams, ScienceDiet, PURINA, MARS, NESTLE, CHEWYs/PetSmart, PetCo, Blue Bufflo, Taste Of Wild, Acana/Orjien, Fromm, Merrick, ROYAL CANINE, etc. with deep pockets to sell n promote their story/claims to help sell n build a BILLIONS$$$$ Pet Food Industry….all at the expense/profit off the consumers n their pet dog n cats!!! SHAME ON THEM!!!

  17. Pingback: The Truth About Dog Food Ingredient Lists | Texas TLC Goldens

  18. Julia Solomon

    January 1, 2019 at 11:22 pm

    I cook three small meals a day for my 14 year old Poodle —eggs, white fish, sweet potato, cauliflower and a vitamin pill as well as papaya—he is doing very well but had several health problems in the past—He needs to lose weight and we are working on that with exercise . I have his blood work done about every 4 months and he is really doing great. No kibble or canned dog food I don’t trust these companies. I hope to keep him alive and good health for a few more years. We love him so much.

  19. Kathleen

    January 12, 2019 at 5:12 pm

    Chickpeas (aka garbanzos) are also a major dog food ingredient in GF foods. It definitely could depend on how they are processed–insufficiently cooked beans, soybeans, etc. do chelate minerals and make them unavailable to the body. So it would make a big difference whether the beans or chickpeas or soybeans were sufficiently cooked before making them into kibble. I am using a kibble from Pinto Canyon which is not extruded, to avoid loss of nutrients but I am now concerned that the chickpeas may be undercooked and contain anti-nutrients

  20. Kim

    April 15, 2019 at 5:34 pm

    Pinto Canyon Pet Food is stored in a climate-controlled warehouse. Your statement may apply to some pet foods, but not Pinto Canyon! It is also baked — not extruded.

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