Europe is not experiencing a rise in diet-related heart disease as the U.S. is. Our inferior regulations could be part of the reason why.
TruthaboutPetFood.com consulted with Scampers Natural Pet Food store in UK (we have communicated for years) regarding the current concern of grain-free dog foods. Scampers told us they have seen no issues with their clients dogs that consume grain-free kibble. The pet food store also put us in touch with Canagan Pet Food manufacturer of Symply Pet Food (including grain-free foods) sold in 45 different countries. The pet food manufacturer too confirmed there is no current concern of diet-related canine heart disease in Europe as has been reported in the U.S.
So…why are grain-free dog foods in the U.S. linked to heart disease but grain-free dog foods in Europe are not? One possible reason is U.S. pet food regulations which take a one-size fits all approach to nutrition. Our U.S. pet food regulations vary significantly from EU pet food regulations.
U.S. pet food regulations require “Complete and Balanced” dog foods (and cat foods) to meet specific nutrient levels established by AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) per 1,000 kcal (calories). In other words – for each 1,000 kcal of dog food in your bag or can – regulations require the pet food to meet specific minimums of protein, fat, and numerous vitamins and minerals. AAFCO regulations are the same for every adult dog – no matter if the dog is high activity (requiring more calories a day) or if the dog is low activity (requiring less calories a day).
This seems sufficient until you look at regulations in Europe. European pet food regulations take into consideration activity level of dogs and have developed Nutrient Profiles to address lower amounts of food consumed and higher amounts of food consumed.
Because US regulations are based solely on 1,000 kcal – the U.S. regulations do not consider a dog that is consuming low calories a day (less food a day). The same holds true for high energy dogs that consume more calories a day (more food a day) – U.S. regulations do not take this into consideration. EU regulations address these problems.
Specific to the current heart disease issue we have in the US that is not currently in Europe we must examine the regulatory requirements of the two amino acids that dogs need to convert into taurine (to prevent diet-related heart disease). Comparing U.S. regulations to European regulations for Methionine and Cystine:
In Europe, even the lowest required level for these two necessary amino acids are higher than in the U.S.
Confirmation that U.S. regulations lack of consideration of proper nutrient levels when dogs consume less pet food was provided in the recent study “Taurine deficiency and dilated cardiomyopathy in golden retrievers fed commercial diets“. The study noted that 22 of 23 dogs were eating less calories per day – “up to 62% less“. By eating less calories a day, based on the U.S. one-size fits all system, 22 of 23 dogs were receiving less nutrients from their pet food (significant to their heart disease – less Methionine and Cystine) – some up to “62% less” nutrients.
Certainly there is another issue with grain-free dog foods that is causing the many heart disease illnesses and deaths – but our existing U.S. one-size fits all Nutrient Profile regulations plays a role.
The next AAFCO meeting will occur soon – January 21 – 23, 2019. We’ll hope that FDA will address this glaring problem then.
To read AAFCO Nutrient Profiles, Click Here.
To read EU Nutrient Profiles, Click Here and click on the FEDIAF link.
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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Pet ~Owner~
January 4, 2019 at 1:16 pm
Wow. Great post. I wonder if there’s anything American PF manufacturers can do right!? Seems like a most obvious (and necessary) adjustment.
Sherrie
January 4, 2019 at 1:20 pm
Why do we screw up everything in the US??? Ok let me re-phrase that, why do we let the Government screw up everything??
Pet ~Owner~
January 4, 2019 at 2:37 pm
Because Americans (including the Voter) aren’t invested in the best welfare of animals. Europe (in this regard) is much more enlightened and humane in their thinking.
Denise
January 5, 2019 at 10:53 am
$$$
Shirley Ortiz
July 3, 2019 at 6:30 pm
Denise I agree
jiter
January 4, 2019 at 1:26 pm
Excellent information. I was just asking about this in a contact memo to you, a question about a new kibble.Thank you so much for keeping your members up to date, much appreciated.
tag
January 4, 2019 at 2:51 pm
I think another reason is the huge amount of poison chemicals the US sprays on our grains. Might explain the increase in heart disease in humans also?
Jill
January 4, 2019 at 2:57 pm
I wonder if the quality of the ingredients has anything to do with it????
Also, I was surprised that the low activity dogs get higher protein than the high activity dogs? Am I reading that right? Curious about that as I was thinking the high activity would need more fat and protein.
Susan Thixton
January 4, 2019 at 2:59 pm
The low activity dogs eat less food – thus the nutrient profiles are increased in nutrients. High activity dogs eat more food so the nutrients are lowered.
Richard Phillips
January 4, 2019 at 4:12 pm
In real life don’t the low activity dogs get the same amount of food, they just get fat?
Susan Thixton
January 4, 2019 at 4:17 pm
Yes – but even veterinarians unknowingly recommend feeding less food for weight loss.
Kelly Maurer
January 4, 2019 at 3:17 pm
I am thinking Canola Oil use !!!! Almost all the animal food manufacturers are now using Canola oil in their foods….very difficult to find one without it….REFUSE to have it in my household. I bet if you check the European ingredients…there is no Canola oil.
Louise
January 4, 2019 at 10:32 pm
And Canola has Round up on it
Rosamund Billingsley
January 8, 2019 at 12:48 pm
That’s because it isn’t called canola oil in Europe. It’s called rape seed oil and it *is* in European pet foods.
https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/dog-food-ingredients/0057/rapeseed-oil
Shirley Ortiz
July 3, 2019 at 6:31 pm
I buy dog food without canola oil and avoid it in any food I buy. I agree Kelly.
Janice
January 4, 2019 at 3:38 pm
Excellent points, as usual. These show how important it is to calculate the amounts of nutrients your pet needs (according to NRC guidelines) and then to calculate the nutrients he or she would get from the amount of your chosen food that is needed to maintain your pet’s weight. We have done this with a number of foods–those for which we could obtain a complete nutrient profile–and have found that for our “easy keeper” dog (who needs far fewer kcals than he is “supposed” to need) many foods fall short–especially moist foods. Some dry foods can work. But I am still concerned that legumes may interfere with the availability or absorption of taurine or its precursors, and, of course, many dry grain-free foods contain legumes. The best and only solution for us is to make our little guy’s food, which we realize is desirable for other reasons as well.
Anna Shelton
January 4, 2019 at 4:07 pm
so maybe US dog owners should feed European made food? Like Farmina?
Susan Thixton
January 4, 2019 at 4:08 pm
Any imported pet food sold in the U.S. must meet our regulations – not their own country’s regulations.
Janice
January 4, 2019 at 4:28 pm
Farmina refuses to provide a complete nutrient profile for their foods. The information they have online is incomplete. Indeed, no amino acid amounts are listed. I tried for weeks to obtain this information and got nowhere, despite the fact that the US manager said that he contacted Italy and would get back to me when Italy contacted him. So there is no way to check the amounts of many nutrients in this food, and thus to know if your pet would receive adequate and balanced nutrition from it.
guest
January 4, 2019 at 4:34 pm
Just a heads up. I was reading and researching that the canine heart disease is caused by the overvaccination in the USA not the grain free food by true health veterinarians. The allapathic vets and allapathic (all is profit chemical medical system) veterinary big pharma do not want paying customers to know the truth about vaccines, so the canine heart disease is blamed on the grain free pet food, hoping the pet paying customers will not figure out the real truth that canine heart disease is caused by overvaccination. Because informed pet owners no longer vaccinate and so canine heart disease is not an issue in non vaccinated pets, where many informed pet owners use Nosode vaccines to prevent or treat disease, the safe natural vaccine with no side effects and no chemicals. There are rabies nosodes, parvo nosodes, distemper nosodes, canine flu nosodes, lyme tick nosodes, etc etc. Many informed pet owners now use real holistic, homeopathic or naturopathic veterinarians, that use nosodes as the more effective and safe alternative to toxic chemical vaccines.
Janice
January 4, 2019 at 5:01 pm
Certainly over vaccination can be a problem. But where is the data that shows that canine heart disease is not an issue in non-vaccinated pets? This is quite a claim!
Curious
January 4, 2019 at 5:21 pm
If you want to muddle up this discussion, then at least provide links to the studies to which you’re referring. The ones that directly (and scientifically) correlate “chemical vaccination” with a rise in DCM. And how a general variety of breeds/sizes are affected. However a “heads-up” is insufficient, and in fact, just plain rude. When the subject of over vaccination and toxic chemicals, to which you are referring, has very wide variables and circumstances. IF across the board (thoughtless, careless) over vaccination was (and perhaps is also) a contributing factor in the DCM issue, then the affected owners (and supporting veterinarians) would be calculating that diversion into their analysis. Da ‘ya think?
The “informed” pet owners you are selecting from the general population, who access holistic (and very expensive) veterinarian services may indeed add value to their pet’s care. (And which I’ve used as well). But for the majority, Titers are a great place to get started when calculating risk versus protection. Pet owners (in many situations) must still adhere to local regulations. Would you then advise the justification for avoiding regulation, is the more effective and safe alternative to toxic chemical vaccines. Or are you working diligently to get Nosode vaccines accepted in lieu of chemicals? Perhaps you believe that holistic veterinarians are above the idea, of also having something to gain from such an effort!
T Allen
January 5, 2019 at 10:26 am
Informed pet owners absolutely DO vaccinate because rabies is a non-curable fatal disease and for that reason the law requires it. Responsible pet owners DO check titers on their animals and don’t over vaccinate. As soon as research is done that actually proves nosodes prevent rabies then that might be a possibility. In the meantime you are endangering people’s lives.
Marsha
January 4, 2019 at 6:36 pm
I see no reason for our government to tell other governments what is best for our dogs. I was going to purchase UK dog food but I guess I am not allowed to by our government. That SUCKS!!!!!!
Judi
January 4, 2019 at 7:33 pm
Just for fun, let’s look at it this way. It has nothing to do with vaccines or grain-free products – it is the US Government’s greed that is killing our beloved pets and our people too because as long as there is lots of money to be made and lobbyists are allowed to bribe our corrupt representatives, this will continue. Go to Canada for cancer treatment, it’s amazing how many more patient’s go either into remission or are cured there. We need government reform and not just the FDA.
Lucyna
January 5, 2019 at 7:47 am
I knew it!! Taurine Deficient Filated Cardiomyopathy DmFacebook group bulies everyone who dares to question the nutrtional value of the food thdy promote there. I was told dogs don’t need taurine in food as they can convert methionine and cysteine into it. When I asked what if the food didn’t have enough nutrients to make it possible, I was muted.
Virginia Chapson
January 5, 2019 at 8:11 am
We, the American public must be aware of what our elected leaders are doing. The attitude “sit back and they’ll take care of us” is nothing but blind trust. We must be ever watchful and demand that they do what is right. We need to
take an active part in the workings of this country. I know many of do just this but more of us need to listen and act.
Laurie Raymond
January 5, 2019 at 4:43 pm
Yes! And not only in the areas we have special concerns about, but across the board. I want to scream when I hear politicians complain about “excessive regulation stifling business and costing jobs.” It isn’t an issue of too many regulations, but a question of in whose interest they were drafted and are enforced. Laws and regulations to protect consumers (that’s all of us, and our environment, too) from rampant greed and deceptive practices may be inefficient; they may be insufficiently pertinent; they may be poorly enforced because of budget constraints. But the laws are usually passed by legislatures to protect our interests and then the regulations and enforcement mechanisms are subverted in deference to corporate priorities (short-term profit and shareholder value over all other values.) Meanwhile, given what is now in place, learning to make our own pets’ food using whole foods is absolutely necessary. And it isn’t that difficult, expensive or time consuming! In a sane regulatory environment, government agencies and inspectors should be well funded and paid better than averages in the industries. Agency heads and agents should be rewarded for reputations for integrity, experience and knowledge. Instead, we get inspectors lacking experience or knowledge sent out armed with clipboards, knowing nothing, seeing nothing, and caring less.
Tam Logan
January 5, 2019 at 5:32 pm
The fact that the FDA is reporting differences in dogs in the US that apparently depend upon the type of food fed means that the comparison to European standards is not applicable.
Within the US both regular and “grain free” dog foods must meet the AAFCO standards. The FDA has noted an increase in diagnosed Dilated Cardiomyopathy in dogs fed “grain free” dog food. If a taurine deficiency is due to the US AAFCO standards, then one would expect to see increases in this diagnosis across in all dogs in the US, not just in those fed specific diets.
I am not saying that the US regulatory agencies are aggressive enough in making sure both human and pet foods are safe, especially with our current leadership. However, the facts are misinterpreted here.
Susan Thixton
January 5, 2019 at 7:11 pm
I disagree – our US regulations certainly play a role even though it probably is not the sole reason. It could be the high levels of pea ingredients help to deplete the minimum levels of amino acids whereas grains do not. But the fact still remains – our one size fits all regulatory system sets pets up to fail.
Chris_B
January 5, 2019 at 9:34 pm
https://www.drmcdougall.com/ My one typo had to be in the website address. When people talk about pet food I give them truthaboutpetfood and when they talk about people I give them Dr. Mcdougalls site. With both you can branch out and read and research until your eyes bleed or just take them as trusted sites and get something done.
Karen
January 5, 2019 at 10:30 pm
What about Australia? Id’ be interested in knowing whats happening with pet food here!
Mary Marseglia
January 7, 2019 at 10:58 am
You know you do a great job in keeping people informed with all this information and I do appreciate you – but it doesn’t matter truly what is going on here in the US vs other countries because the one thing you don’t inform people about is that ALL dry kibble around the ENTIRE WORLD is ALL GARBAGE out of a bag! You shouldn’t be feeding crap out of a bag to your dogs and cats – period. Its all horribly processed/over cooked/over heated garbage – yes some that are more expensive have better “ingredients” but its still cooked to crap and not good for your pets and ALL the nutrients come from Pre-Mixed supplements added at the end of the process including Amino Acids(which comes from protein but not in dry kibble – it comes from added supplements)
Start teaching people to feeding a proper complete raw diet without vegetables as those are not good for your pets either – or feeding some descent expensive canned food is better than feeding any & all dry kibble on the market today around the world
Janice
January 7, 2019 at 3:37 pm
Which supplements added to kibble do amino acids come from? Some foods add methionine and some also add taurine (synthesized from methionine and cystine), but what other amino acids come from added supplements?
Meike
January 10, 2019 at 3:07 am
I’m from Europe and I was wondering about this too. The brands Taste of the Wild and Acana are quite populair among grain free feeders, so we should also have dogs getting ill from kibble. Or would our dogs be bred different? I have heard about one dietary DCM case, which was a Golden Retriever on a Dutch grainfree brand.
Gaby
January 20, 2019 at 2:09 pm
Come on! I fed my German Shorthair Pointer Orijen/ Acana his whole life, I had to put him down at age 13.5 because he could not walk on his own any more. Do we really know the cause of certain diseases our pets are diagnosed with? I had breast cancer almost 9 years ago.I had a double mastectomy, dd chemo, tamoxifen, and it can still come back! We do not know the cause of so many diseases, I do not believe most of what I am told about the cause of the disease as the many people I know who have had/ have breast cancer do not fit the “profile”.
Jut because these dogs had this in common, does not mean it is the cause.
Elise
May 6, 2019 at 8:11 am
I think the most compelling argument that these diets are the problem comes when the heart disease and even heart failure are completely reversed by a change in diet. This has happened numerous times, and I can’t see why that would be the case with other than if the diet is implicated.
Joanne
June 28, 2019 at 5:20 pm
There is no GMO in the foods in EU. The animal protein in the foods never ate any GMO products, neither do they have GMO in their fruits & vegetables. Should be asking is ‘how long ago was it when EU removed GMO and banned it from EU? Taurine was not required in dogs since the late 80’s because dogs supposed naturally produced in their bodies. Also the new rage to have designer dogs could also be a factor now. Were there a massive amount of mix breeding of breeds back say in the 80’s?
Meike
October 16, 2019 at 5:04 am
GMO food is still used for animals in the EU. The rules may be a bit stricter than in the USA, but we (Europe) aren’t GMO free.
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