F E A T U R E T O P I C: N U T R I T I O N
Discount food and malnutrition By Lori Mohr-Corrigan Copyright 1999, Lori Mohr-Corrigan. Used with permission. back to fresh foods article Thousands of pets across the United States have suffered from malnutrition after being fed low-grade commercial pet foods. The Project BREED Rescue Directory warns that because of the quality of ingredients of some pet food, especially in the case of many generic brand pet foods, the nutrients are not absorbable by pets. For example, horse hair and teeth can be listed as protein but are not digestible protein. Janis Daniel Dees, a veterinary nutritional consultant, concurs wholeheartedly. "People who buy a 40-pound bag of food for $4 need to know that the inferior protein source is harmful," she says. "There are some foods in this country that use shelter animals who have been put down as the protein source. You have to be very cautious with generic brands, because it is much less likely that it will be a high quality protein source. Soy is a popular protein source, but it can give a lot of animals allergies. I don't see many dogs [wild or domestic] romping in the fields eating soybeans!" "If you feed high quality food in the first place," says Janis, "medical problems would not arise, because the body's system would not be dealing with 'garbage.' Most diseases can be traced back to some form or another of immune system dysfunction. Things like arthritis and cancer are both immune system breakdowns. Allergies are obviously the body's inability to deal with whatever these toxins are." |