New Zealand dog diet study a wake-up call for dog nutrition
 

New Zealand dog diet study a wake-up call for dog nutrition | Scoop News

New Zealand dog diet study a wake-up call for dog nutrition

Thursday, 16 March 2017, 1:24 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Premium Petfood Alliance

MEDIA RELEASE

Dog owners can improve the wellbeing of their canine companions by serving up a high meat
diet rather than the “human-like” fare favoured by many, a new study shows.

The independent New Zealand study – only the second of its kind in the world – found the high
meat diet is easier for dogs to digest, means more nutrients are able to be absorbed, and resulted
in higher levels of bacteria associated with protein and fat digestion.

These higher levels of bacteria demonstrated a dog’s gut is biologically designed to digest a diet
high in meat.

Led by AgResearch and Massey University, and co-funded by the New Zealand Premium Petfood
Alliance (a collaboration between leading NZ Petfood manufacturers Bombay Petfoods, K9 Natural
and ZiwiPeak) and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment through the Outcomes for
Science Targeted Research Fund, the study also shows there may have been too much reliance on
research into the diets of humans or other animals in the past when it comes to the best diet for dogs.

“We already know dogs have no nutritional need for carbohydrates in their diet, so this study looked
at the role different bacteria play in a dog’s digestion system to help us work toward a clearer picture
of what the optimum diet for dogs is,” said study co-lead Dr Emma Bermingham of AgResearch.

“Understanding how bacteria works in the gut is vital because of its links to digestion, diseases such as
obesity, and even how it affects mood and behaviour.”

The study found:

--High meat diets are more digestible for dogs

--More nutrients from a high meat diet are able to be absorbed

--Dogs on a high meat diet had higher levels of the bacteria associated with protein and fat digestion

--Dogs on a high meat diet had smaller poo and better fecal health

Study co-lead Associate Professor David Thomas of Massey University said finding high levels of the
bacteria associated with protein and fat digestion was particularly exciting as it demonstrated that a
dog’s gut is biologically designed to digest high meat diets.

“Up until now science has looked at studies on nutrient digestion in human, mice and rats and assumed
the same is true for dogs in terms of digestion and what is good and bad bacteria in the gut. This study
shows this may not the case and much more needs to be done to understand the digestive system of
dogs and the long-term health consequences of feeding different diets.”

New Zealand Premium Petfood Alliance spokesperson Neil Hinton said the study findings support the view
the pet food manufactures behind the Alliance have been advocating for a long time.

“While dogs are considered members of the family, they are carnivores so shouldn’t be fed a humanised
diet containing high levels of carbohydrates. The study supports our long-held view that dogs need to be
fed a high meat, low carbohydrate diet best suited to their biological makeup.”

Mr Hinton said there is growing interest from pet owners about biologically appropriate diets that lead to
healthier and happier pets.

“To date there has been hardly any published research, so this study is a significant contribution to the
international animal nutrition field. A lot of diets on the market have been designed to ensure a dog
survives, but this research shows that high meat diet is the best to help a dog thrive.”

Notes for editors

The research ‘Key bacterial families (Clostridiaceae, Erysipelotrichaceae and Bacteroidacae) are related
to the digestion of protein and energy in the dog’ is published in the PeerJ journal https://peerj.com/articles/3019/

Dogs in the study were either fed a high meat raw complete and balanced diet or a high quality kibble (dry) diet.

The study is part of a three-year independent New Zealand research programme led by AgResearch and
Massey University and co-funded by the New Zealand Premium Petfood Alliance and the Ministry of Business,
Innovation and Employment through the MBIE Outcomes for Science Targeted Research Fund to assist the
red meat pet food industry to grow their exports.

The next full study from the research programme on the effects of feeding cats a high meat diet is due for
completion mid-2017.

Oh my gosh guys - SO very sorry, but I messed up this thread a bit. I read it this morning and thought I only *copied* it, so that I could put a copy into the Health and Diet Library. Instead, it appears I moved it there! And when I edited the thread I thought I "copied" to the Library - I edited out the 3 responses (to keep the article only in the Library section) to the thread.

So sorry :eek:! The responses deleted were from Taylor, me, and Mimimomo.

Here is the thread again - promise I won't mess with it :)!!!

Actually that press release is false and misleading, especially this sentence:

"Dog owners can improve the wellbeing of their canine companions by serving up a high meat diet rather than the “human-like” fare favoured by many, a new study shows."

That's not what the article they cited was about at all. The article is about which bacteria are found in the guts of dogs fed various types of diets. It didn't make any kind of judgment about whether any particular type of diet was preferable.

Basically, this press release is trying to drum up support for New Zealand meat exports. Not to say that New Zealand meat isn't a quality product, but you have to take into account that they have an agenda, and that is to export New Zealand meats. See http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-service...201.6%20MB.pdf

I'm not a fan of Whole Dog Journal, but here is a more reasonable article about the role of carbohydrates in dog food: https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/is...g_20103-1.html

Just in case people have trouble accessing the PDF document I linked to above from the New Zealand government promoting their pet food industry and meat exports, I've attached screen shots of three of their more cynical pages. Note the third one, which describes promoting the "Prey Model" diet in order to boost their meat exports. I suppose that all governments and companies do this, but to claim that it is for the "health of the dog" is hogwash.

Not to beat a dead horse, but the caption to the third image was created by the New Zealand government, not by me. It reads: "New Zealand companies are well positioned in and pushing the "Prey Diet," the replicating a wild animals natural diet." Not only is that cynical (that the New Zealand companies are "pushing" a particular diet in order to increase meat exports), but it contains two typographical errors. I am not making this up. Oh, not to mention the first image I posted above, which also pushes the prey model by telling people to "visual their dog chasing a lamb," "visualize their dog chasing a deer," and tell consumers that rabbits and possums are "natural prey" in order to help with New Zealand's pest problems. How many Yorkies do you know who chase down lambs and deer to eat? Cynical, cynical, cynical.

In conclusion, I trust peer-reviewed research articles, not press releases issued by quasi-governmental industry representatives who are collaborating to dump their excess meat and pest animal exports on an unwitting public.

I believe this *is* a peer-reviewed article. And a rather interesting one too. I don't want to say much more than that at this point, bc I actually need to read it a second time and digest it more fully.

Here is the article's "conclusion", which is always at the end of most any peer-reviewed article, and can help in terms of understanding the goals of the authors:

"To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study undertaken to investigate the relationship between physiological parameters such as macronutrient digestibility and faecal health score, and faecal microbial composition in dogs. We have shown that the microbiota changes in response to diet in dogs, with Clostridiaceae, Erysipelotrichaceae and Bacteroidaceae apparently central to the relationships between microbiota and intestinal health. The data suggest that when interpreting changes in microbial composition in relation to diet, comparisons to other species may not be valid. The data also provide a basis for future studies which may further characterise the functional role of the microbiota and how they interact with diet to influence health. The understanding gained by such studies could lead to a new definition of optimal nutrition for carnivorous pets, and a range of products based on that definition."

For me right now, the bottom line is that it's *very* encouraging to see (in layman's medical terms) what we call "in-out studies"; in other words, it's amazing to see such a deep-dive into the macronutrients and how they come out the other end - those are complicated studies, but could potentially tell us a LOT. :)

You correctly quoted the conclusion of the study. My critique is of the press release at the top of this thread, which falsely states the results of the study as follows:

The research was basic and preliminary, and did not "show that high meat diet is the best to help a dog thrive." That's something that the press release tacked on without any proof whatsoever. I think I did a good job above of demonstrating that the New Zealand meat export and pet food industry is NOT an unbiased observer, and that they have an agenda that they are aggressively pursuing independently of facts and data. It's nice seeing this research being done, but it's sad seeing it misused so shamelessly. There have been plenty of feeding studies showing that dogs do as well, and perhaps better, on a mixed diet than on a high meat diet. These studies are based on parameters such as health and longevity, which are actually more important than percent digestibility and poo size. There is a good discussion of meaningful research here: https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/raw...make-you-barf/

Ah! I see what you're saying now, Phil. You understood that the article itself *is* a peered article, but it's the press release itself you're taking issue with. Got it. Lol, I think.... :)

Yes, that's it. The article is peer-reviewed and looks fine. It's the press release I have problems with. :)