Dog Nutrition – meat V vegetable, vitamins & minerals V. AAFCO guidelines

The companion article to this compares beef and chicken (raw and cooked) with fish and corn in regard to their nutrient profiles for fats and proteins.

While these are important, so are the vitamin and mineral profiles and how they relate to the AAFCO guidelines.

You may also be interested with how Australia sets its dog food standards.

DOG FOOD – Dog Nutrition & Vitamin requirements

You will notice from the tables below that raw meat generally meets all the minimum requirements for the vitamins that are listed. Where it doesn’t, the extra nutrients are usually supplied by offal and bones.

Vitamins are the main nutrient affected by cooking and the most significant decrease is in the vitamin B group. It is said that vitamin B 12 is difficult to acquire from a vegetarian diet and easier to digest in a meat diet and fortunately B12 is in excess of the 0.022mg/kg requirement for beef 0.044, and about half that for chicken 0.01

The only vitamins that are under the minimum for the raw meat chosen are vitamin E (50 IU/ kg reqd, beef is 10, chicken 9). Riboflaven 2.2 mg/ kg (beef 0.7, chicken 0.2), choline 1200 mg/kg (beef 438. Chicken 133).

While not meeting minimum requirements might be of concern. Exactly how is it that natural meat doesn’t meet the AAFCO guidelines? It turns out that neither does any manufactured dog food, without the addition of synthetic vitamins. By this quirk of tables, the AAFCO essentially is directing all dog owners to ONLY feed their dog manufactured dog food!

However did you know that “Research has shown that synthetic vitamins do not work with the same efficiency as those found in their natural state (i.e. in raw foods). Additionally, many vitamins and minerals interact with each other both negatively and positively. For example, vitamin C increases the uptake of iron, whereas Vitamin E inhibits the uptake of iron. Vitamin C also lowers zinc and manganese uptake, whereas Vitamin E helps increase zinc and manganese absorption. Commercial pet foods should contain all of these nutrients but are they contained in the proper amounts and the AAFCO methods rely heavily on subjective feeding trials. ref 7

DOG FOOD – Dog Nutrition and Mineral profiles

Out of the listed minerals calcium and copper appear to be the two minerals that are lower than the AAFCO standard. Copper required 7.3 mg/kg ( Beef 2.4, Chicken 1.1) and Calcium 0.6% (Beef 0.45%, Chicken 0.03%). Of course a dog feed a raw diet will obtain plenty of calcium via the bones that it eats.

The table below shows a direct comparison of the AAFCO recommendation and the raw meat values.

If a raw diet or even a cooked meat diet is so good for a dog, then why would nature (meat) fail this man made AAFCO test?

A paper delivered by David Dzanis of the FDA says “There are two means of substantiating the nutritional adequacy of pet food. The first method requires the product to be formulated so that essential nutrient levels fall with the ranges as set in the AAFCO Nutrient Profiles. The second method requires a pet food manufacturer to conduct animal feeding trials in accordance with AAFCO protocols. Pet foods that successfully pass the feeding trials are exempt from the requirement to meet the profiles.” Ref 6 This suggests that a manufacturer could essentially feed a dog candy, and as long as it eats it (passes the feeding trials), the ‘pet food’ passes the trial!

“Unequivocal proof of a product’s nutritional adequacy for all animals under all conditions can never be achieved. However, with the changes in both the nutrient profiles and feeding trial protocols, assurances of nutritional adequacy to the consumer have been improved. Substantiation of the nutritional adequacy of a pet food based on the nutrient profiles may be less reliable than the results of feeding trials.” Ref 6.  So upfront, this author admits that the feeding trials may be inadequate, but they are better than their trial and error guesses at the nutritional profiles.

A critic of the AAFCO goes further … he considers that the AAFCO vitamin profile “assumes 100% bioavailability. However, if a dog is fed as an omnivore, there are good amounts of nutrients unavailable to it that is contained in the indigestible plant matter. Phytates in particular (contained in abundance in grains and soy products—which kibbles often contain in substantial amounts) are well-known for interfering with valuable nutrients like iron, zinc, and calcium.” Ref 7

What this is suggesting is that it appears that the nutrients requirements may have been created by people with interests in pet food manufacturing, which usually uses cheap vegetable matter as its base. Vegetables may meet the vegetable-based guidelines in their raw form however the vast majority of manufactured dog food is processed and dogs need a lot more of the vegetable matter to be able to extract the minimum mineral requirement. The recommendation list is set for added nutrients, not the amount absorbed by the dog.

“Cooking denatures proteins and collagen, destroys important nutrients, and generally makes the food less digestible and less bio-available (the exception being grains and vegetables, which we have already determined should not be given to dogs anyway). This means essential vitamins and minerals must be added back in to meet the guidelines.” ref 7

CONCLUSIONS

Meat and meat by-products are the only major component you need in your dog’s diet. Raw meat is better than cooked meat, although cooked (plus bones and offal) will provide the minimum level of vitamins and minerals required.

The protein profile of meat is exactly what dogs require. While amino acid levels of vegetable matter plus added amino acids may meet the mathematical amount of each amino acid required, the specific vegetable protein that these amino acids are contained in is much more difficult for your dog to breakdown and absorb.

Oily Fish that contain significant levels of Omega 3, such as salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines should be included in your dog’s diet, or a fish sourced Omega 3 supplement.

While oven drying beef and chicken does reduce its nutrition level, it also kills many of potentially harmful bacteria. In nutritionally unbalanced diets, those without high levels of different animal meat and sufficient quantities of offal, dog treats are a very effective method of adding protein diversity to a dog’s diet.

This suggests that oven dried dog treats such as those sold on this site are the best way for people to supplement a healthy raw meat, bone and offal diet. The convenience factor of handling dried meats and ease of storage and longevity outweigh any small loss of nutrition.

You should also probably be aware that “AAFCO feeding trials consist of at least eight dogs being fed the same diet for a mere 26 weeks (approximately six months). During this time, 25% of the dogs (two animals) can be removed from the test and the dogs eating the food can lose up to 15% of their weight and condition; the food will still pass the test and be labeled “complete and balanced.” Ref 7

If you live in Australia you may wonder what our Government is doing about safeguarding our pets. Well it appears that we have essentially adopted the AAFCO guidelines by default, however the industry is supposed to be regulated by two Australian regulatory bodies.

The membership to the Pet Food Industry Association of Australia (PFIAA) is voluntary. It is designed to promote prepared pet food, with the aim of protecting the interests of consumers, and to establish standards for self-regulation of the industry. Doesn’t the fact that all the major pet food manufacturers belonging to this group and guide this association, that only has voluntary guidelines, and its aim is to promote prepared pet food cause you any concern?

The second ‘regulatory’ body is the ‘National Registration Authority for Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals’ (NRA). This Australian federal agency was created for the assessment and registration of agricultural and veterinary products. As their main role regarding pet foods is the registration of therapeutic claims associated with veterinary diets, the vast majority of pet food products are not regulated by this body.

One wonders if grains became more expensive or for some other reason dog food manufactures could not make the profit by selling these unbalanced, unnatural cheap man made chemical concoctions, whether the AAFCO guidelines would change to be in sync with a natural healthy raw meat and bone diet.

Article by Bruce Dwyer. If you wish to use any of this information please refer to the article as a reference and provide a link to our WEBSITE.

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References

Ref 1 nutritiondata.self.com

Ref 6  Paper: The Association of American Feed Control Officials Dog and Cat Food Nutrient Profiles: Substantiation of Nutritional Adequacy of Complete and Balanced Pet Foods in the United States

Ref 7 http://rawfed.com (/myths/standards.html)

For other associated references see companion dog nutrition article

APPENDIX – Nutritional data tables VITAMINS, MINERALS