Feeding Pets: Antioxidants and Atherosclerosis

Companies that make products often fund research to show their products are effective. This research can be helpful or it can be bogus. Here’s an example of helpful research: General Mills funded Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center to supplement mice with General Mills’ freeze-dried broccoli, green beans, corn, peas, and carrots. Researchers compared the arteries of supplemented mice with the arteries of mice on a regular diet. Mice supplemented with freeze-dried broccoli, green beans, corn, peas, and carrots had 38% less hardening of the arteries. Hardening of the arteries is also called atherosclerosis for “athero” meaning plaque and “sclerosis” meaning hardening).

Veterinarians who carried out the research said the antioxidants and phytonutrients in the vegetables provided anti-inflammatory activity that prevented atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is caused, in part, by inflammation, which stimulates the layering of fat along the blood vessels. Plant antioxidants help limit inflammation so that plaque isn’t formed.

Do we worry about hardening of the arteries in dogs? No. Generally, atherosclerosis is not a problem in pets. On the other hand, we do worry about high cholesterol and fatty tumors, which are very common in some dogs, such as Shelties and Schnauzers. In addition, any dog with a poorly functioning thyroid is prone to develop high cholesterol.

For all dogs—whether or not they have fatty tumors and high cholesterol, inflammation is a serious problem. Inflammation is a factor in arthritis, hip dysplasia, allergies, immune-mediated hemolytic anemia, and cancers.

Inflammation causes disease in every organ of the body: glomerulonephritis in the kidney, meningitis in the brain, inflammatory bowel disease in the gut, uveitis in the eye, allergic otitis in the ear. Antioxidants from vegetables can help limit these diseases.

The most natural way to help pets avoid unhealthy inflammation and have a healthy immune system is to feed appropriately. Increase Omega 3 fatty acids, decrease Omega 6 fatty acids, and provide deeply pigmented fruits and vegetables. Avoid soybean oil, sunflower oil, and canola oil, white potatoes, rice, and flour. Pets need phytonutrients and antioxidants that are found in deeply pigmented foods. The darker the food, the greater the antioxidant content.

If you’re feeding kibble, supplement with small amounts of grated, baked or pureed sweet potatoes, broccoli, green beans, corn, peas, lima beans and carrots. Dogs and cats do not absorb vegetables easily because their intestines are specialized for digesting meats—Pet’s intestines are so unlike those of cows and horses with intestines designed to digest grains and vegetables. Thus, grating, baking or pureeing helps make nutrients in vegetables more absorbable for dogs and cats.

Decaffeinated green tea is an excellent source of antioxidants—50 times more powerful, in fact, than Vitamin C.