For your precious canine and feline pet
Original post: September 21, 2010
The category of essential and conditionally essential fatty acids is the most commonly misunderstood and it continues to be misconstrued to confuse retailers and consumers alike. The unfortunate thing is that manufacturers of many of these oils are themselves sending out irresponsible confusing and blatantly incorrect information which then lands in your precious pet‟s bowl to produce metabolic havoc instead of harmony. The right fat blend protects health and produces long term resilience to illness.
The wrong ratios will slowly but surely contribute to illness. Supplementing even with the wrong ratios of fatty acids for short periods may provide beneficial results in the interim but the long term effect can be detrimental.
Understanding the value and the concept of essential fatty acids is critical to your pets‟ health just as it is to your own. There‟s no refuting it, Omega-3 fat supplements, such as those derived from cold-water fish, deliver the building blocks for healthy cell membrane structure, positive receptor site status, and good hormone balance. These fatty acids are essential for good health; they‟re essential for life, and they are often called “essential” because the body can be faced with a condition whereby it cannot make them. But they are not really essential fatty acids by the definition of the term „Essential Fatty Acid‟.
I call them more appropriately „Conditionally Essential Fatty Acids‟; meaning that if our cells are faced with nutrient deprivation, a genetic anomaly, or a basic sluggish metabolism, they cannot produce these fatty acids even if the essential fats such as linoleic acid (for dogs) were to be supplied abundantly in the diet anyway. But supplementing with fish fats exclusively is not the answer to this problem.
This is where it gets confusing. We expect that the cells in our bodies and those of our cats‟ and dogs‟can manufacture the longer-chain, non-essential fatty acids like DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) from the short-chain, essential Omega-6 a-linoleic fatty acids that food has provided. In the dog and cat, the omega-6 linoleic acid is converted into the omega-3 linolenic acid which then is used to make DHA and EPA; different unedited brainstorm rebuttal for retailers DHA EPA Essential to be rendered after review from humans where we cannot convert the linoleic (omega-6) into linolenic (omega-3) like they can.
For humans linoleic (omega-6) and alpha linolenic (omega-3) acids must be supplied by the diet – they are both essential. For dogs linoleic (omega-6) acid only is essential and must be supplied by the diet. Cats are different again whereby two omega-6 fatty acids are essential – linoleic acid and arachidonic acid. In all these species the DHA and EPA omega-3 fatty acids are nonessential but can be required as conditionally essential if the essential fats or metabolic efficiencies are limited. OK the detailed description above may be a bit flabbergasting but the point to take away from this is that your fatty acid needs are different from those of your cats‟ and dogs‟ and our bodies are supposed to make enough DHA and EPA from food-derived essential fatty acids and other nutrients. The other important point that will be made even clearer in a moment is that supplementation with fish oils exclusively cannot and will not meet the metabolic needs of your animal or our own health needs.
Essential fatty acids are those that our cells cannot make whether we‟re healthy or not and they must be supplied by the diet sufficiently every day. So why is our diet failing us in the supply of the Essential Fatty Acids? A wholesome diet should supply these „Essential Fatty Acids‟ but the problem is that too often we rely on highly processed diets such as canned food and dried kibble which cannot deliver these fundamental nutrients because they‟ve been damaged. The cells then fail to produce those precious omega-3 fatty acids like DHA and EPA sufficiently forcing us to consider supplementation with fish oils as compensation.
The big problem is that these essential fats do much more in the body than merely serve as building blocks for the nonessential EPA and DHA. The fish-derived fats we so often resort to supplementing prolifically will cause us to miss out on delivering enough of those true essential fatty acids and in due time other problems begin to show up as we create imbalances in other areas of the metabolism.
The key problem at the root of this dilemma is the processing of food which destroys these essential fats due to the high heat and extensive oxygen exposure. However, supplementation must address each level of the metabolic need in order to completely solve the unedited brainstorm rebuttal for retailers DHA EPA Essential to be rendered after review limitations. Fatty acid health in our body also depends on key vitamins, minerals and other nutrients like antioxidants which can also be compromised in processed food.
There are many things to consider in this internal processing of fatty acids. The non-essential fatty acid production is limited by the quantity and quality of essential fatty acids supplied. This means that the non-essential fatty acids that the body should be able to produce can become essential (required from diet) or as I term more appropriately „Conditionally Essential‟, because the precursors are in limited supply or of poor quality. In addition, to the dependence on the essential fatty acid precursors from the diet, the cells also depend on important enzymes and cofactors in order to manufacture these important nonessential fatty acids.
The enzymes and cofactors are made up of specialized amino acids, vitamins and minerals which if short will compromise this fatty acid system and others. Complete and comprehensive nutrition is critical even for the production of nonessential nutrients. If even one small element is missing the cells cannot manufacture their needs. Seniors often face an aging metabolism which slows down the production of these fatty acids in their tired cells as well; another condition which leads to the DHA and EPA fatty acids being Conditionally Essential as supplements. DHA and EPA limitations can contribute to skin conditions and compromised immune system health leading to chronic inflammation, sluggish metabolism, cardiovascular impediments and even cognitive decline. It can even lead to over fatness due to the metabolic shifts that occur.
Plain salmon or plain cold water fish oil has become a common addition to pet food, and rightfully so, since it provides DHA and EPA non-essential fatty acids. However, the impact of this selective fatty acid supplementation is limited because it is incomplete. Isn‟t it absurd to supplement abundantly with DHA and EPA from fish oils to compensate for the fact that the body may not be able to produce these compounds due to a limitation in the essential fat availability from the diet, such as linoleic acid? That‟s senseless; what about the other metabolic processes that the essential fatty acid – linoleic acid- is needed for? It‟s more logical to supplement with DHA and EPA to meet an immediate need but to also fulfill the body‟s requirement of the precursors and cofactors it needs to produce these compounds on its own. This way the cells can meet these immediate requirements and other metabolic needs self-sufficiently. The cells of your canine need a source of intact, undamaged omega-6 fatty acid as well as the DHA and EPA from fish fats.
Your feline will need these plus the addition of unedited brainstorm rebuttal for retailers DHA EPA Essential to be rendered after review arachidonic acid. In addition to having the right amount of the right kind of fats, the fatty acid supplements must be supplied in the right proportion or ratio with other supporting nutrients. Salmon oil must be combined with plant seed oils in the right combinations to meet the specific ratios of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fatty acids that dogs need. This gets them the essential fatty acid, linoleic acid. Salmon Oil alone does not supply relevant amounts of the omega-6 essential fatty acid, linoleic acid. BioFATS supplies the full complement of fats in the correct ratios, including sufficient levels of the essential fatty acid, in an easy-to-use liquid format that can be pumped out for a controlled measure.
Additionally, the support nutrients which themselves are Essential Nutrition, such as vitamins, minerals and enzymes should be supplied concurrently. If the dietary choices or the digestive process has contributed to fatty acid limitations in the body it is also likely that these limitations have contributed to other nutrient limitations which should be addressed in the form of general vitamin, mineral and amino acid supplementation. BioVITES supplemented daily can fulfill this need completely and maximize the cells ability to handle these fatty acids in the appropriate way.
A very important fact to keep in mind is the species-specific needs of essential fatty acids. Too many products on the pet store shelves today are relabeled products which were originally designed for human use. After all, if it‟s good enough for you and me, it should be good enough for fido. Not true. I cannot highlight enough that the essential nutrient needs for our canine companions is quite different from our own and the fatty acid category of nutrition is one that differs immensely. Again, you and I need the diet to supply the essential fatty acids linoleic acid (omega-6) and alpha linolenic acid (omega-3). From these essentials our cells should be able to produce the rest although we can benefit from some additional DHA and EPA supplementation due to common metabolic hiccups which often lead to limitation.
However, our dogs‟ cells can convert linoleic acid (omega-6) into alpha linolenic acid (omega-3) so the latter is not essentially required in the dog‟s diet; different from you and me. The only true essential fatty acid for dogs is the omega-6 linoleic acid. This metabolic difference calls for a different ratio of fatty acids for dogs making human-intended supplements a poor fit for them. Choose fatty acid supplements which are specifically designed for your precious pet and designed to meet their true multilevel needs.
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