Ganoderma Guide

ANTIOXIDANTS FOR YOUR PETS TOO!


Copyright 2006 Sylvia Riley
It's not just humans that benefit from antioxidants in their
diet, animals do too.

Like humans,
your pet can suffer from the damaging effects of free radicals so
notoriously linked to aging and disease. Antioxidants neutralize
these hazardous molecules, and as such serve as potent protectors
of the body. Food is an essential source of these key players in
our defense system with numerous vitamins, minerals and enzymes
having antioxidant properties. Common examples include vitamins A,
C and E, selenium and zinc, carotenoids, flavonoids and coenzyme
Q10.


Sadly, processed commercial pet foods can be deficient in these
active compounds, as well as devoid of live enzymes which also
greatly serve the health of your pet. Homemade, raw food diets can
provide a healthy dose of antioxidants for your dog and cat. If
embarking on a homemade raw food diet, thoroughly research the area
first as nutritional balance is essential.
Vegetables and some fruit in your dog's diet and a small
quantity of such in your cat's diet can provide many of these
active compounds.

Dogs can eat up to around 30% plant
foods in their daily meal and are not obligatory carnivores like
felines. Cats require only a very small proportion of plant foods
in their diet, around 5-10%. With both dogs and cats, be sure to
blend veggies well as they do not readily digest cellulose, and in
the wild would have consumed the partially broken down plant foods
in the guts of their prey.
Vegetables and fruits particularly high in antioxidants include
broccoli, spinach, avocado, peas, blueberries and apples.

Other
veggie options for your pet's diet include chard, kale, squash,
watercress, carrots, cabbage, celery, beetroots, green beans, sweet
potato, cauliflower and asparagus. Use a range of vegetables and
always include something green. Seeds provide antioxidant minerals
such as selenium (particularly high in Braxil nuts) and zinc (high
in pumpkin and sesame seeds for example). They are also rich in
healthy oils and vitamin E.

One nut or a few seeds a day is
adequate for larger dogs, one every few days or so for cats and
smaller dogs.
As a note, raw onions are not friendly on your pet's digestive
system so are best avoided. I also avoid tomatoes, peppers,
cucumber and potato. Garlic is not good for cats, though small
amounts occasionally in your dog's diet may serve as a
natural flea repellent.


Vitamin E is a potent antioxidant and valuable addition to both
your dog and cats diet (always research dosage amounts before using
supplements), with powerful anti-aging and disease-preventive
properties. Vitamin C, however, is questionable for use as a
supplement. Where many agree it is not appropriate for a cat's diet
(since they manufacture vitamin C from glucose in their small
intestine), there is still debate around whether it is beneficial
as a dietary supplement for dogs. Many argue it is
health-promoting, where others claim dogs can synthesize vitamin C
in their liver and any extra can lead to kidney and liver
damage.


Dogs can convert the beta-carotene in vegetables into vitamin A,
another immune boosting antioxidant. Cats, however, cannot
synthesize vitamin A from plant foods and must acquire this vitamin
from animal sources in their diet such as liver.
Recent evidence for the importance of antioxidants in your pet's
diet comes from a study on dogs at the University of Toronto by Dr.
Dwight Tapp and colleagues (2005) who found that 'old dogs that
were on an antioxidant diet performed better on a variety of
cognitive tests than dogs that were not on the diet.

In fact, the
dogs eating antioxidant-fortified foods performed as well as young
animals'.
Other research by Dr. Rabinovitch and his team studying aging at
the University of Washington, Seattle (published in the
International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, 2004), found
that mice engineered to produce high levels of an antioxidant
enzyme (catalase) lived 20 per cent longer and had less heart and
other age-related diseases than controls. In light of the role
antioxidants play in combating aging and disease, it is important
to ensure your pet's diet includes a healthy dose of these
protective agents.



------
The Natural Nutrition Guide for Dogs and Cats:
.natural-nutrition-guide.com
Ultimate Superfoods for Health, Beauty and Longevity:
.miracle-superfoods.

com





.