Dog Food Ingredients: Canola Oil, Soy, Sodium Selenite

*Sodium Selenite: The Journal of American College of Nutrition reports not much was known about which selenium compounds to approve for use in animal feeds when the decisions were made back in the 1970’s. “At the time the regulatory action was taken, only the inorganic selenium salts (sodium selenite and sodium selenate) were available at a cost permitting their use in animal feed.” http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/full/20/1/1 Science has since learned that these inorganic selenium sources (sodium selenite most commonly used in pet foods) can be toxic in high doses; effecting an animal’s blood, liver, and muscles.  ScienceLab.com states sodium selenite “may be toxic to blood, kidneys, liver, skin, central nervous system. Repeated or prolonged exposure to the substance can produce target organs damage. Repeated exposure to a highly toxic material may produce general deterioration of health by an accumulation in one or many human organs.”

http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927277

*Canola Oil: The Weston A. Price Foundation article quotes numerous studies of the effects of Canola oil in animals; “These studies all point in the same direction–that canola oil is definitely not healthy for the cardiovascular system. Like rapeseed oil, its predecessor, canola oil is associated with fibrotic lesions of the heart. It also causes vitamin E deficiency, undesirable changes in the blood platelets and shortened life-span in stroke-prone rats when it was the only oil in the animals’ diet. Furthermore, it seems to retard growth, which is why the FDA does not allow the use of canola oil in infant formula.”  Journalist David Lawrence Dewey quotes research from the University of Florida that “determined that as much as 4.6% of all the fatty acids in unrefined canola are ‘trans’ isomers (which are somewhat like plastic) due to the refining process.”http://www.dldewey.com/columns/canola.htm Dewey also points out that Canola oil is registered with the EPA as an approved pesticide. http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopesticides/ingredients/index_cd.htm#c

Soy & Soy products: Per Dr. Karen Becker: “Soy is estrogenic and can wreak havoc on your dog’s endocrine system.”  Soybeans and/or soy products are not clinically proven to be safe for pets to consume. Soy products are fat-free (defatted) soybean meal and is a primary, low-cost, source of protein for animal feeds”.  Soybeans also contain potent enzyme-inhibitors. These inhibitors block uptake of trypsin and other enzymes which the body needs for protein digestion. Soy contains a natural chemical that mimics estrogen, the female hormone.

 – Soy Protein Isolate (SPI): Soy contains goitrogens – substances that depress thyroid function.

In feeding experiments, the use of SPI increased requirements for vitamins E, K, D and B12 and created deficiency symptoms of calcium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, copper, iron and zinc. Phytic acid remaining in these soy products greatly inhibits zinc and iron absorption; test animals fed SPI develop enlarged organs, particularly the pancreas and thyroid gland, and increased deposition of fatty acids in the liver.  It contains potent enzyme inhibitors that block the action of trypsin and other enzymes needed for protein digestion and could cause serious gastric distress, reduced protein digestion and chronic deficiencies in amino acid uptake. In test animals, diets high in trypsin inhibitors cause enlargement and pathological conditions of the pancreas, including cancer.

Additionally 99% a very large percentage of soy is genetically modified (GM) and it also has one of the highest percentages contamination by pesticides of any of our foods.

-Soybeans are high in phytic acid, present in the bran or hulls of all seeds. It’s a substance that can block the uptake of essential minerals – calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc – in the intestinal tract. The trypsin inhibitors in soy interfere with protein digestion, a vital function for dogs, and may cause pancreatic disorders. The plant estrogens found in soy, known as phytoestrogens, disrupt endocrine function and have the potential to cause infertility and mammary cancer. Phytoestrogens are also known for causing hypothyroidism and thyroid cancer. Soy also contains goitrogens which depress thyroid function.