|
DOG FOOD
&
SAPONINS:
A
Dangerous Liaison
*****************************
A SCIENTIFIC
STUDY OF THE HIDDEN DANGERS INHERENT IN MANY
ANIMAL FEEDS.
Soybeans and beet pulp are
ingredients that are commonly used in dog feeds.
Both contain saponins; substances that may be
hazardous to your dog's health.
Soybeans and beet pulp are
included in canine rations because they are
cost-saving to manufacturers. Soybeans
furnish inexpensive protein, and beet pulp's
fiber content artificially hardens stools.
Both ingredients enable manufacturers to avoid
the expense of using higher quality ingredients.
In the Guaranteed Analysis that appears on all
dog food labels, protein quality is not
differentiated, therefore, lower quality soy
protein is listed in the same manner as better
quality (more expensive) animal protein, thereby
giving a market advantage to products in which
the lower quality, lower priced ingredients are
being used.
Beet pulp creates a firm stool
regardless of the nutritional composition of the
rest of the diet. Since many people, and
most veterinarians, equate firm stools with
dietary quality and sufficiency, the use of beet
pulp is particularly offensive, since it allows
the production of a firm stool without any
guarantee of a product's quality or nutritional
sufficiency.
Neither soybeans nor beet pulp
are in any way essential to canine health. In
fact, a growing body of scientific evidence
indicates that the reverse is true.
Even though there are a number of reasons
(nutritional, biochemical, and physiological)
for avoiding diets which contain either soybeans
or beet pulp, it is not the intent of this
article to elaborate on those aspects, but
rather to focus on the serious, even fatal,
consequences that have been associated with the
use of these ingredients in animal diets.
In the late 1970's, Robert Abady
(later to found the Robert Abady Dog Food
Company), during the course of conducting
feeding experiments, became aware that a
connection existed between the development of
bloat (and various other gastrointestinal
disorders) and diets that contained a significant
amount of soybean meal and/or beet pulp could
be responsible for irritating the
gastrointestinal tract, since it is a scientific
fact that carnivores have a very low requirement
for fiber. He felt that beet pulp was
particularly undesirable because, even though it
may be the fourth or fifth ingredient listed on
an ingredient panel, the amount this could
represent in typical canine diets, by both
weight and volume could be so great as to make
it the most dominant ingredient in the ration.
Bearing in mind that there are 454 grams in a
pound, if a ration were to contain 5% fiber, and
4 1/2% of that fiber, or 20.43 grams per found
of food were derived from beet pulp, the ration
could contain anywhere from 113.5 grams to 132
grams of beet pulp by weight depending on the
fiber content of the beet pulp. That means
that 25 to 29 percent, by weight, of such a ration
could be comprised of beet pulp. The
impact of such enormous quantities of
fiber-containing material on a digestive tract
not suited to processing such material can be
not only physically damaging to the tract
itself, but can also have a detrimental effect
on every nutrient that is processed through the
tract.
Beet pulp hardens stools
artificially through the following process.
It has enormous fluid absorbing capacity (beet
pulp holds up to seven times its weight in
water) and expansive properties (it can increase
in volume by as much as 250%). Even if the
animal's water intake is curtailed after
feeding, the residual sugar in the beet pulp
(sugar being a low molecular weight
carbohydrate) will draw fluid from the
surrounding tissues into the intestine and
rehydrate the beet pulp. The swollen mass
of the expanded beet pulp and feed becomes so
large that its passage through the colon (large
intestine) is slowed significantly. The
colon is the organ in which moisture is drawn
out of the forming stool. Therefore, the
beet pulp, by slowing the progress of the food
and increasing the length of time it takes for
the food to pass through the colon, also extends
the time it is exposed to the colon's
dehydrating action, thus forming a very hard dry
stool. This is how beet pulp creates an
artificial dynamic all its own.
Beet pulp - laden diets can create
many problems, but the symptoms are usually
suppressed until the beet pulp is eliminated
from the feeding regimen. When a dog is
switched from a feed that contains beet pulp to
a food that does not contain beet pulp the
symptoms of intestinal damage, diarrhea, bloody
stools, etc. (caused by the saponins in the beet
pulp), become manifest, often to be incorrectly
blamed on the new diet, rather than on the true
culprit - beet pulp contained in the previous
diet.
The intestinal tract responds to
irritants by trying to eliminate them through the
process called diarrhea. Diarrhea is
caused by the intestinal tract drawing in water,
through osmosis, in an attempt to flush the
irritants from the system as rapidly as possible.
The greater the level of irritation and damage,
the more water the intestine will draw in,
giving the beet pulp that much more water to
absorb. The greater the amount of water
available for the beet pulp to absorb, the
larger its mass will become, slowing its
progress through the colon even further.
As a result, the worse the irritation and
damage to the intestinal tract, the harder the
stools will become. In other words,
beet pulp short circuits one of the body's most
effective methods of self defense.
With diets in which hard
stools are consistently artificially formed, no
matter what the actual condition of the dog or
its digestive system, there is no way of
evaluating the health of the digestive tract or
the merits of the diet. With diets
based on sound nutritional principles, like the
entire line of Abady Feeds, firm (not hard)
stools are indicators of well made, high quality
diets. An occasional loose stool should
not be considered abnormal, consistently
loose stools should be considered an indication
of a problem with the dog, not the food.
After making the above
observations on the effects of beet pulp, to
satisfy his curiosity as to the effects of other
sources of fiber, Mr. Abady developed (for
testing purposes only) diets with substantial
amounts of fiber from non-expansive sources.
The results were interesting. There was
some reduction in nutrient utilization, observed
by the deterioration in physical condition of
the animals, not the high fiber diets as opposed
to those on diets that were identical except for
a lower fiber content. Some mechanical
damage and irritation could have been suspected,
but the level of gastrointestinal disorders of
the type experienced when beet pulp or soybeans
were dietary constituents did not occur.
Neither did bloat.
While it is clear that enormous
amounts of fiber-containing material, such as
beet pulp, can irritate the dogs' digestive
tract, lower its functional efficiency, reduce
nutrient availability, and permit manufacturers
to use inadequate ingredients (or insufficient
amounts of better ingredients) without being
detected, these facts by themselves could not
explain why diets in which soybeans alone
(without beet pulp) were important constituents
created serious and consistent gastrointestinal
disorders even though the volume of fiber (if
not the amount) was often lower.
Mr. Abady surmised that both
beet pulp and soybeans, independent of their
fiber content, were linked to gastro-enteric
problems, colitis and bloat through a common
component. This would support his
empirical observation of the intestinal damage
and bloat found in dogs that consumed these
ingredients.
In the early 1980s he dissected
both ingredients, virtually molecule by
molecule, until he found what he thought was the
one common substance that would explain the
gastrointestinal disorders and the bloat.
The substance he believed was responsible is
called a saponin.
Saponins are a class of
glycosides characterized by their ability to act
as emulsifying agents. Saponins, like
soap, make bubbles when they are mixed with
water and shaken, They create a dense foam
with a very high surface tension (similar to
shaving cream or the "head" on a beer).
It takes as little as one part of saponin
material to one hundred thousand parts of water
to make the water froth. Unlike soap
suds, however, saponin bubbles, because of their
high surface tension, are very tough and
difficult to rupture. No doubt the
observation that dogs were more prone to
developing bloat if they were allowed large
amounts of water and exercise soon after eating
is valid. Although this observation is
correct, it should be qualified, since these
dynamics seem to apply primarily to feeds that
incorporate large amounts of saponin containing
material. Mr. Abady explains part of
the process of bloat formation as follows:
water mixes with the saponins in the feed, the
mixture is then agitated in the dog's stomach
during exercise creating a sudsy foam. The
foam envelops the feed, trapping the gasses that
are normally produced by the fermentation of the
ration and contained in tiny bubbles of liquid
dispersed throughout the feed. Because
these gasses are trapped by the foam, rather
than being free to escape via the normal oral
and rectal routes, the mass of ingested feed
will continue to expand until it crushes and
cuts off circulation to the major organs.
The dog then collapses from the pain and buildup
of toxic metabolites. From empirical
observations veterinarians instituted the
practices of feeding dogs several smaller meals
a day (instead of one large one), of curtailing
the intake of water after feeding, and of
restricting exercise directly after feeding.
Although the restriction of water at meal time
interferes with the animal's ability to break
down and utilize feed, the alternative would be
to accept a higher risk of bloat.
Industry-connected scientists
have advanced a number of theories as to the
cause of bloat over the years, including the
theory that bloat is caused by genetic factors.
More recently, however, these scientists have
moved away from the genetic explanation and now
believe that bloat may be the result of gulping
atmospheric air. They even seem to imply
that bloat may be a punishment for gluttony.
This theory, like the genetic theory, has no
scientific merit, since dogs naturally
gulp their feed (particularly if fed chunks of
raw meat) and do not develop bloat. Air is
also mobile, it will not accumulate as long as
there is nothing preventing its escape. If
air did indeed accumulate inside the stomach,
its pressure would be greater than that of the
air entering the stomach and it would escape.
It is no more possible to cause bloat by gulping
atmospheric air than it is possible to inflate
a balloon by merely holding open its end.
If gluttony were indeed a factor, then a
reduction in the level of flavor enhancers
contained in some feeds (thereby reducing their
palatability), would discourage ravenous eating.
Obviously, the answer lies elsewhere.
Mr. Abady's concept of
saponin foam encapsulating the fermenting feed,
thereby preventing the escape of gases, not only
linked both soybeans and beet pulp to the
problem, but also furnished a plausible
explanation, partially, if not completely,
supported by empirical evidence. Mr. Abady
recognized that the explanation he was offering
fell short of fully answering some vitally
important questions. For instance, why
couldn't the dog vomit the saponin foam and
terminate the onset of bloat? Mr. Abady
assumed that the rectal elimination of the foam,
feed and gases was blocked by the excessive
amounts of dietary fiber, but the inability to
commit the foam remained the key issue to be
resolved. Mr. Abady believed the answer to
that question would bring with it all the needed
answers as to the cause of bloat. the idea
that perhaps a toxin was involved appeared
increasingly likely (a view shared by many
non-industry researchers). Even though he
believed that there was a missing link yet to be
discovered between soybeans, beet pulp, saponins
and bloat, when founding The Robert Abady Dog
Food Company, Ltd., based on his instincts and
experience Mr. Abady excluded both
soybeans and beet pulp from all his products.
In the late 1980s, quite by
accident, Mr. Abady found the answer to his
questions. While examining the molecular
structure of snake venom he detected a
resemblance between it and another chemical
structure that was familiar to him: saponin.
The connection had been made! Saponins
were not only foaming agents; they were toxins
as well. Spurred on by his discovery,
Mr. Abady proceeded to find and collect every
piece of research that had been done on the
subject during the greater part of this
century in France, England, Germany, Spain,
Japan, and the United States. Finally Mr. Abady found the corroborating evidence he was
seeking. He uncovered an excellent piece
of research, almost sixty years old,
which connected the suppression of the eructation
mechanism (vomiting reflex) to the physiological
action of the saponins. Most saponins are
highly toxic. They can affect the central
nervous system and can cause paralysis of the
alimentary canal. Most of the
characteristics of dietary bloat could now be
explained. The frothing mass associated
with many causes of bloat can be attributed to
the foaming action of the saponins. The
presence of undigested food in the stomach is
attributable to a paralyzed gastrointestinal
tract. The inability of the dog to vomit
and obtain relief in the early stages of the
crisis relates directly to the suppression of
the vomiting reflex. The inability of the dog to
dispel the accumulating gases rectally is caused
partially by the suppression of the natural
peristaltic action of the intestine and partially
by the impenetrability of the saponin-created
foam and by the masses of fiber-containing
material that combine with water to block the
colon and prevent the escape of the accumulating
gases. Any toxin capable of paralyzing
the intestinal tract can cause bloat.
In addition, bloat can form in the intestine,
when the stomach is empty of food, and not be
recognized as being food related.
A question may be raised as to
why, if saponins are so toxic, are there not
more problems associated with feeds that contain
them. The answer is that many problems
are indeed caused by these feeds, however, many
of them are either misdiagnosed or wrongly
attributed to other causes. In
addition, with the increase of the number of
products that contain beet pulp, (which not
only contains saponins, but holds them in
the colon for periods of time far longer
than a feed containing soybeans alone would)
not only has the incidence of gastro-enteric
problems increased, but the number of breeds
susceptible to them has increased as well.
At one time bloat was the occasional
affliction of only the largest of dogs, and
colitis was a rarity, now virtually all breeds
are affected.
SAPONINS: Lethal
Characteristics Beyond Bloat
There are at least 50 varieties
of saponins that have been isolated from over
400 species of plants. Although most
saponins are very toxic, the large size of their
molecules prevents them from being readily
absorbed from the intestines. Thus oral
doses usually produce only local effects.
Research has demonstrated that saponins may
irritate and even inflame the intestinal tract,
causing a range of gastrointestinal disorders,
up to and including death. Death in such
cases has been ascribed to the inflammation
caused by the saponins rather than to the direct
absorption of the saponins themselves.
Other researchers have found that continued
ingestion of sub-lethal doses of saponins can
lead to corrosion of the intestinal mucosa
allowing increased absorption of the saponins
and producing systemic effects similar to those
caused by intravenous injection.
Many saponins are deadly when
they enter the bloodstream directly through
intravenous injection (or through a snake bite).
The dose of saponins required to kill an animal
by injection is much smaller than the oral
dose needed to kill the same animal. The
lethal oral dose may be from 3 to 1000 times
greater than the lethal intravenous dose.
The oral toxicity is generally proportional to
the intravenous toxicity of saponins form
different sources, however. Even their
effects on different animals may vary.
For example, the lethal dose of the saponin
Sapindus SSP when administered to a mouse
intravenously is 450 mgs. per pound of body
weight, whereas the lethal oral dose is 1,364
mgs. per pound of body weight. This saponin is
obviously not particularly toxic to mice.
However, when the same saponin is
administered
to a cat the lethal intravenous dose is less
than 21 mgs. per pound of body weight, and
for a rabbit the lethal intravenous dose is only
18 mgs. Obviously the saponin Sapindus
SSP is quite deadly to cats and rabbits.
The saponin Argostemma Githago was lethal
to mice at 9 mgs. per pound of body weight when
injected intravenously, whereas it took 450
mgs. per pound of body weight to have the
same effect when ingested. The rabbit
required an intravenous injection of less than
7 mgs. per pound of body weight for a lethal
effect, and 27 mgs. per pound of body weight if
administered orally. The lethal
intravenous dose of the saponin Argostemma
Githago when administered to the dog was
less than 2 mgs. per pound of body weight, and
only 10 mgs. per pound of body weight when
administered orally. The following chart shows the effects of the
intravenous injection of various amounts of broomweed saponins on pregnant rabbits.
THE EFFECTS OF THE INTRAVENOUS
INJECTION OF BROOMWEED SAPONINS ON PREGNANT
RABBITS
|
Rabbit No. |
Weight in lbs. |
Daily Dose of
saponins: mgs. per lb. of body weight |
No. of Days. |
Result. |
|
85 |
7.04 |
5.68 |
2 |
Aborted. |
|
376 |
8.8 |
4.54 |
7 |
Died. Signs of impending
abortion |
|
436 |
9.68 |
4.13 |
5 |
Aborted, died. |
|
368 |
9.02 |
4.4 |
7 |
Aborted. |
|
373 |
7.04 |
2.86 |
7 |
Aborted. |
|
435 |
7.92 |
2.7 |
11 |
Aborted, died. |
|
390 |
9.46 |
2.13 |
9 |
Aborted. |
|
433 |
7.26 |
5.5 |
5 |
Died. Signs of impending
abortion. |
|
381 |
7.7 |
3.9 |
2 |
Aborted. |
|
443 |
7.7 |
3.9 |
2 |
Aborted. |
|
522 |
7.26 |
1.4 |
2 |
Aborted. |
|
523 |
10.12 |
1.0 |
22 |
Normal litter. |
|
233 |
9.24 |
32.45 |
4 |
Died. |
|
334 |
8.8 |
34.0 |
3 |
Died. |
|
98 |
9.02 |
33.2 |
3 |
Died. |
|
46 |
9.9 |
10.09 |
4 |
Died. |
|
247 |
8.8 |
11.3 |
4 |
Died. |
The
same pattern of abortion and death was observed
in rabbits when saponins from different sources
were injected intravenously. Even with
some that are considered non-toxic to humans.
Experiments with other pregnant animals,
including goats and cows, yielded similar
results. Necropsy findings were fairly
consistent, they revealed intestinal
inflammation, enlargement of the veins in the
abdomen, intestines and uterus, hemorrhages in
the heart, uterus and abdominal cavity,
gastro-enteritis, colitis, and retained
placentas.
Cattle
grazing the Trans-Pecos and high plains areas of
Texas (where saponin - containing broomweed is
found) also aborted, demonstrating that saponins
cause problems even though they are poorly
absorbed by the intestines.
Carnivores
in the wild would have little access to large
amounts of saponins. Although many grasses
do contain saponins, they are only concentrated
in the Legumes; soybeans, peas, beans, beet
pulp, alfalfa, sorghum (milo), tomato pomace, and curiously
enough, in only grain, oats.
(Interestingly enough, saponins are not
present in soy oil, making it an
excellent source of supplemental polyunsaturated
fatty acids). These are not exactly items
that form the mainstays of a wild carnivore's
diet. Any ration that contains a
significant amount of any of these ingredients
can contain significant amounts of saponins.
For example, if a feed contains 25% protein, and
only 15% of the protein was derived from
soybeans, the feed could contain between 800
and 900 mgs. of saponins per pound of feed.
The same principles apply to any of the other
saponin-containing ingredients. Beet pulp,
if included in a formula at all, is always
present in substantial quantities, since the
object of its inclusion is to firm stools, and
it cannot firm stools if it is used in small
amounts. The risks of using saponin
-
containing materials may be compounded when they
are combined with stool hardening agents, like
beet pulp, sodium bentonite and cellulose flour,
because the saponins are retained in the colon
for longer than normal periods. (The
object of using stool hardening agents is to
artificially slow the progress of feed through
the colon, thereby producing hard, dry stools).
It has
been found that saponins have a direct influence
on the central nervous system, presumably
affecting the permeability of cells.
Symptoms of toxicity range from convulsions
and paralysis to sudden death.
Legume saponins inhibit protein-splitting
enzymes and cholinesterase, which not only
interferes with the body's ability to break down
food, but can also increase the toxicity of
many drugs (eg. worming agents, insect sprays
etc.). The proclivity of saponins toward
enzyme destruction is not affected by heat or
processing. Saponins also interfere
with the enzymes concerned with energy
metabolism. Of particular significance are
those enzymes that are concerned with the citric
acid cycle. Inhibition of this major
metabolic pathway has profound effects on
nutrient utilization and animal growth. To
compound the problems, research has proven that
soybean and sugar beet saponins promote rapid
growth, while interfering with the
protein-splitting enzymes involved in tissue
production. As Mr. Abady explained in
his penetrating article "The Secret Is
Out,"
(available from the Abady Company at no
charge upon request) the majority of commercial
feeds (in all categories) grow dogs fast but
cannot produce corresponding measures of tissue
quality. As a result, tissues and organs
are inadequately constructed because of the
absence of vital nutrients, making them either
too weak to support the animal during growth, or
causing them to break down prematurely, after
growth has ceased. This principle can
apply to any of the organs of the body
explaining the enormous incidence of impaired
reproduction, bone problems, skin and coat
problems, allergies, thyroid, heart, kidney,
eye, and auto-immune problems, just to mention a
few. The key to preventing such
problems lies in feeding on a higher nutritional
plane. Abady products offer the
opportunity to feed at the required elevated
nutritional level, and to feed safely.
BEET
PULP: Its use causes gastrointestinal
inflammation and masks it as well.
The very
properties of beet pulp and the way it
functions raise some very serious issues for
concerned dog owners and ethical veterinarians.
Stool hardening agents are at their peak of
effectiveness when there is a large amount of
fluid for them to absorb. Fluid may enter
the gastrointestinal tract by a number of means;
the dog may introduce it by drinking water, the
residual sugar in the beet pulp itself may draw
fluid from the surrounding tissues, or the level
of irritation and inflammation in the intestinal
tract (created by the excessive amounts of
fiber-containing material and saponins in beet
pulp) may be so great as to cause the body to
draw in fluid in an attempt to expel the
offending substances. (As previously explained,
this is known as diarrhea, one of the body's
first lines of defense). In fact the
greater the level of irritation (whether created
by disease or the saponin content of the beet
pulp itself), the greater the likelihood of
the body creating an explosively loose stool to
expedite the ejection of the offending agents.
However, if beet pulp is included in a diet it
will soak up any water in the stomach and
intestines, and instead of the stool becoming
liquid, it becomes harder than ever,
because the beet pulp has larger amounts of
liquid to absorb enabling it to slow the
progress through the colon still further.
In other words, the worse the state of
health and condition of the gastrointestinal
tract, the "better" (harder and drier) the
stool. There is a point at which the
beet pulp can no longer mask the symptoms of
disease, possibly when it is too late to repair
the damage. A dog owner should be able
to be aware of the imminent problems long before
a condition becomes unmanageable, instead of
being surprised because the offending agent so
successfully disguises the havoc it wreaks.
Sadly, the
Abady Company has had to stand by and watch
veterinarians promoting, recommending, and
actively selling products that contain soybean
meal, beet pulp, and other undesirable
ingredients. Often times the Abady Company
must stand by as superbly healthy dogs that have
been fed Abady for months, or years, are
switched to the products the veterinarians are
promoting, based on the condition of the
animal's stool at that particular moment.
Instead of recognizing that, in most instances,
the stool may be temporarily loose while the dog
is successfully fighting off a deadly virus or
bacterial infection, and the loose stool is
expressing this fact, some veterinarians
immediately switch the animal to a feed
containing a stool hardening agent, rather than
first attempting to discover and address the
actual cause of the problem. In fact, the
very worst thing that could be done for a dog
under these circumstances would be to change its
diet (which is supporting the dog in its
successful battle against an illness) to a lower
quality ("premium") feed from another
manufacturer that contains soybeans or agents
that artificially harden stools (which may mask
the symptoms of the illness while the quality
of the food allows the disease to overtake the
animal).
Abady
feeds are the finest in the marketplace, based
on the content and quantity of superior
ingredients included in their formulas, and Abady's unique nutrient-sparing
method of processing helps insure that what is
included in the formula is useable by the dog.
The Abady
Company does not market to veterinarians at
this time, therefore many veterinarians are
unaware of the excellence of Abady products and
their superiority to mass-produced, commercial,
"premium" feeds. Unfortunately, most
veterinarians' knowledge of Abady products is
obtained from the salesmen who sell them
products manufactured by Abady's competitors.
Your
veterinarian may not know much about the Abady
formulas. Therefore, when you want information
about Abady products (rather than opinions
filtered through the sales agents of competing
firms), or straight talk about animal nutrition,
come directly to the company whose products are
on the cutting edge of research, the company
that incorporates in its feeds the latest
advances in animal nutrition, and uses only the
highest quality appropriate ingredients.
Come to the company that depends on your
growing knowledge and awareness of the
nutritional needs of dogs, not on your lack of
awareness or deliberately fostered ignorance:
The Robert Abady Dog Food Company.
The
Robert Abady Dog & Cat Food Company, Ltd. |