It all began with the scientific and industrial revolutions. A huge amount of technological progress occurred using the Newtonian, reductionistic, nuts and bolts understanding of matter. That understanding spilled over to food production and nutrition. Faced with the task of feeding an ever-growing population, foods had to be mass produced, stored, and shipped without spoiling. Reductionistic technology and mechanization came to the rescue.
Whole fresh foods at room temperature, as you know, spoil. To get around this, machinery was built to cook and remove the parts of food that spoiled quickly, such as the bran from grains.
The "four white poisons" of white flour, white sugar, white salt, white (hydrogenated) oil have emerged from this technology and industry. After a time, humans and animals fed a diet of such products developed diseases such as beri beri, pellagra, goiter, and scurvy. And, as Pottenger found in his nutritional studies during the 1930's, the teeth are also greatly affected by diet.
The top photos present the dentition of indigenous people eating predominantly raw natural foods. The bottom photos demonstrate the changes that occur once processed foods are introduced.
After untold thousands of lives were lost, it was eventually discovered that the cause of these mysterious diseases was the destruction and removal of nutrients by processing. Scientists then figured out exactly what dietary percent of these nutrients - vitamins and minerals - was needed to prevent disease. Those making such discoveries were applauded for their scientific know-how, and nutritional science became thought of as the best means to avoid nutritional disease.
Thus began the nutrition by percentage age, the age we are presently in where nutrition is thought of in terms of percentages of parts and pieces. Totally forgotten is the fact that if the natural food had not been messed with in the first place, none of these diseases would have ever happened! Also ignored is the fact that all diseases-not just the classic nutritional diseases- are influenced by food in one way or another. Yet nobody knows for sure how much of each of the dozens of known nutrients is needed not only to prevent disease, but to optimize health.
The lesson is, respect nature and don't believe that parts and pieces nutritional science, with its percentages (which continually change, incidentally), is going to be the route to the best pet food.
Video: Cats React to Themselves in Mirror
These big cats aren't sure what to make of themselves...
Thought for the day: "Live and make decisions based on reality, not hopes and dreams; If you don't like your life, find reality, not new hopes and dreams."
Word for the day: prebiotic - adjective: Food substances that enhance the growth and viability of probiotic organisms / Asparagus, beet pulp, chicory root and certain other plant substances contain a prebiotic fiber called inulin. / Prebiotics, in effect, feed and otherwise benefit probiotics.
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