ABSENCE OF TOXINS DO NOT MAKE THE BEST PET FOOD

There are tens of thousands of natural and synthetic toxins we and our pets are exposed to. Can we change that? Not really. If we breathe air, drink water, touch clothes, live in a home, and eat food we are being exposed constantly. We will never discover all the toxins, much less rid our lives of them. The only way to survive this assault is by the body's ability to detoxify and immunologically respond.

If the toxin dose is high enough, defenses can be overwhelmed and sickness and even death can result. Notice the key words, "high enough." Keep in mind the toxicological maxim, "The dose makes the poison.". Even oxygen and water can be toxic if in high enough dose. In sufficient dose, dogs, cats, and people can be poisoned by the solanine in potatoes, avidin in egg whites, carotatoxin in carrots, and hydrogen cyanide in tapioca. Xylitol in lettuce, fruit, Flintstones, and chewing gum can be toxic. So can vitamin C in all natural foods. And there are toxins lurking in grapes, raisons, chocolate, cocoa, onions, and macadamia nuts...everything.

On the other hand, there are potential benefits of each of these foods. This is called the reverse effect: Toxic at one level, beneficial at another. Anyone taking a drug is assuming the benefits outweigh the risks. Although there is no such thing as a safe drug, some people who will avoid a carrot because they heard it had carotatoxin, even though a few carrots never hurt anyone, will take drugs without concern even though these drugs may be maiming and killing thousands.

These simple facts - we cannot escape exposure to toxins and the dose makes the poison - must be used in evaluating toxin threats and determining our response to them. Although consumers are paranoid and suspicious of manufactured products, they must take into consideration the above facts before jumping on the latest toxin-scare bandwagon.

If you want a cause to save the world, why not make it one that affects the lives of millions of people and pets, namely the toxicity of exclusive feeding of a singular processed food meal after meal. That underlies myriad diseases and premature deaths. There is nary a word from the press or public about this.

Moreover, the number one killer of humans and pets is medical intervention. Toxic drugs contribute in large part to that. The equivalent of seven to eight airliners filled with people and pets go down every day from the toxic effects of medical intervention. Nary a word.

While popping pills like candy and feeding pets the same processed food meal after meal, some will then jump on the Internet to warn all who will listen about the dangers of nanograms of the latest buzzword toxin - that has yet to claim even one victim.

Just let there be some obscure report of how a mouse in a lab got cancer from eating an extract from a banana at a dose equal to eating a bushel of bananas a day, and some people will declare that the sky is falling.

Yes, there are toxins. Yes, they can cause illness and death. Yes, to the degree possible, we should clean our environment and avoid OVERDOSING with them. But we are not going to be able to achieve a pure food supply or environment free of both synthetic and natural toxins.

And no, the fact that your pet got ill while eating a food with the latest fad toxin in it is not "proof." All animals eat; all animals can get ill and die. Real proof requires controlled studies. These are never put forward, nor are there scientific citations other than to anecdotal reports, or to experiments on lab animals that cannot be reasonably extrapolated to the real world.

Apply these simple rules for the best pet food, and the safest: moderation in all things, natural foods fed in variety, and intelligent supplementation as an immunological life preserver. That is your best protection against toxicity.

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Thought for the day: If you have no time or inclination to make a critical analysis using facts, then you have no time to believe.

Word for the day: tuber - noun: various types of modified plant structures that are enlarged to store starch. Perhaps the most common examples are potatoes and tapioca. Tubers are nutritionally inferior to most other starch sources such as grains. Substituting tubers for grains in pet foods to create "grain free" products obviously does not get rid of starch (sugar), and is a nutritional step backward, not forward as marketing would have consumers believe.