Carbohydrates: Dog Food Basics
February 10th, 2010
Carbohydrates (carbs) in dog food come from the energy contained inside plants. Remember learning about photosynthesis back in school? Well, that’s were carbohydrates are born. When plants turn sunlight energy into chemical energy, they store the energy as what we could call “sugar.”
Carb Classification
Basically, carbs fall into one of four categories:
1) Monosaccarides: also called “simple sugars.” Famous ones include glucose and fructose.
2) Disaccarides: basically two monosaccarides lumped together. Regular table sugar is a combo of glucose and fructose.
(Quick trivia tangent … lactose found in mammal milk links glucose and galatose together. It’s the ONLY carb of animal origin.)
3) Oligosaccarides: a big clump of 3-10 monosaccarides. They can be harder to digest, causing gas.
Oddly enough, though, those that contain fructose (fructooligosaccarides) tend to do good things in a dog’s intestines, including better stool quality and reduced odors.
4) Polysaccarides: the big boys made up of thousands of monosaccarides. That’s why they’re often called “complex carbohydrates.” Typically, they are either what we would deem “starches” or “dietary fiber.”
Dog Food Carbohydrates
In the dog food world, cereal grains like corn, wheat, sorghum, barley and rice most often provide this carb/starch component.
Dogs of various digestive temperaments have varying success with these carbs. Some do OK. Others suffer terrible food-related allergies.
Since K9Cuisine.com serves so many canine families with such allergy issues, the use of corn, wheat and soy are automatic disqualifiers. None of the foods sold on the site include these ingredients.
In last week’s blog post, Dog Food Basics we covered the metabolic role of carbs in a dog’s diet, including a “protein sparing effect,” where protein can be used in cell repair rather than for energy needs. Some may argue against having any carbs in a dog’s diet, but they do many things inside the canine body.
In addition, these starches function as binders in dog food. They kind of hold everything together. To fill both dietary and functional needs, some dog food makers have gone to potato or even pea starch as a carbohydrate source in their foods.
Questions – Carbohydrates in Dog Food
I’m happy to field any questions you have about carbs in dog food so that I can research the issue and get you the answers you need. Let me know. Won’t you?
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Tags: carbohydrates, dog, dog food, Dog Food Dish Blog, dog nutrition, K9Cuisine Dog Food Dish Blog
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3 Responses to “Carbohydrates: Dog Food Basics”
A professional writer based in Colorado, Roxanne Hawn doesn't just love dogs. She deep-down requires them in life. Something inside her genes, perhaps? That's why it's such a joy to write about all things canine. Roxanne began writing about pets in 1995, when she worked for the American Animal Hospital Association and later for the American Humane Association. During this period in her career, Roxanne served on the board of directors for the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy (a coalition of animal welfare groups). Roxanne also volunteered for many years at an animal shelter, where she witnessed firsthand what happens when the human-animal bond breaks or never forms.
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I’m really looking forward to learning all about food and nutrition from this blog!
Great, objective post — so many of our dogs have allergy issues, and this post addresses those so well.