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Originally Posted by ladyjane  Personally, I don't wish to "study" nutrition. I rely on the people who have studied it to guide me....and by study, I mean actual degrees. I loved the vet nutritionist at GCVS and was so sad when RC snatched her up; but she wanted the challenge and professional growth that the job would bring. There are far too few vet nutritionists out there. I don't know the number that graduate each year, but it is small from what I understand and the large companies recruit them.
I honestly don't care what others feed their animals. I believe in science and believe it is important that the foods I use are formulated and/or approved by vet nutritionists, people who actually do study animal nutrition. I understand others don't feel the same way....that is fine for them.
I have a very basic knowledge and that works for me. I love the way my pups look and feel that what they are eating is fine for them. I am guided by my vets and also do email a vet nutritionist from time to time. |
You have a lot more confidence in the “science” of nutrition than I do. I only took one college level class, but the most important thing I learned was there is so much disagreement among the “experts” that it’s not funny. Real vitamins vs synthetic vitamins has been a hot topic for years and you will find experts on both sides of the equation. Gemy posted a thread today, that said one out of three dogs will get cancer and over half of those dogs will die of cancer. I don’t know if you’ve ever studied research methodology, but it’s extremely limited and it often takes years to prove anything. The status quo, meaning whatever is thought of at the moment to be right, should be kept in place until there are many studies to refute it. As long as something isn’t causing eminent danger, it’s okay. Some of the preliminary information is that synthetic vitamins can do more harm than good and cause free radicles to run amuck. We do know that, “Free radicals are highly reactive and have the potential to cause damage to cells, including damage that may lead to cancer."
Antioxidants and Cancer Prevention - National Cancer Institute. Because most kibble has to be baked at supper high temperatures, the vitamins have to be added after baking and in most cases these are synthetic vitamins. Not all, some companies are using real vitamins found in nature. Many scientists are saying, it’s might be safer to get your vitamins from whole foods or a vitamin that has been tested and proven to work at a cellular level. The bottom line is we don’t know that much and I doubt any dog food company is going to do research to see if the synthetic vitamins they use in kibble may cause cancer. There is no benefit for them to do this study, and it could end up harming them. So in my opinion, the more vitamins we can give our dogs in the form of real food, the better.