You may be wondering, isn’t all nutrition whole food? With that question, I can give a resounding NO as my reply. When our pet’s foods became a purchased product, it needs to be balanced to meet specific nutrient requirements for their particular species. This is accomplished, in most cases, by adding a synthetic vitamin product.
Whole Food Vitamins
The body actually processes whole food vitamin complexes differently than a synthetic vitamin. The body at the intestinal level prefers to absorb whole food vitamin complexes, but when not available, it has no choice but to absorb the synthetic vitamin.
Whole food vitamins when transported to the liver are either utilized or transported to the circulation for distribution to the body. It is not perceived as a foreign substance so energy is not wasted on trying to eliminate it from the body. Synthetic vitamins upon reaching the liver must undergo a reassembling to be recognized and co-factors pulled from tissue storage to make it a more functional structure to bind with the cell receptors. Often the synthetic vitamin is recognized as something foreign and just sent for elimination by the bile or the kidneys.
Hence, there is truth to the statement that spending money on and taking vitamins just creates very expensive urine! Remember that applies to the synthetic vitamin that the body is eliminating because it is not recognized as needed!
What does that mean for feeding our pets? Research the food ingredients on the product you are purchasing for your pet. Does it have a list of words that you do not recognize as food or are there actually food ingredients throughout the entire list? This is a very simple explanation of a very important area of care for our pets’ health – the food we feed.