Vitamins: Page 2

d-calcium pantothenate—A vital pet food B vitamin

There are plenty of reasons for pet food formulators to include d-calcium pantothenate as part of a full nutritional profile.

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Pyridoxine hydrochloride: The stealth vitamin B6

Despite its being synthetically produced predominately by Asian countries with a chemical-sounding name, pyridoxine hydrochloride (a source of vitamin B6) is nearly invisible on popular blame-blogs or safety discussions. This is an important vitamin; it touches nearly every part of animal metabolism and pyridoxine hydrochloride is found on nearly every petfood label around the globe, and yet there is near silence regarding its addition to petfoods.

The formulator’s dilemma: how processing affects pet nutrition

Thermal processing—also known as cooking—of petfoods provides a number of benefits, including convenience, enhanced flavor and texture, improved consistency, pathogen control and decreased spoilage. However, extensive processing can increase variability, destroy essential nutrients and create unwholesome by-products. From a formulator’s perspective, this creates a dilemma regarding how to assure the diet is sufficiently fortified while avoiding excess after accounting for processing effects.

While thermal processing of petfoods provides a number of benefits, extensive processing can increase variability, destroy essential nutrients and create unwholesome by-products.

Niacin: key compound in pets’ metabolism

Niacin was the third B vitamin to be identified as a dietary essential for its role in treating the deficiency disease “black tongue” in dogs and a disease with a similar etiology, pellagra, in humans. The discovery was tied to pets and humans consuming diets nearly monopolized by grains and deficient in quality proteins.

Riboflavin: golden yellow heart of a pet’s metabolism

Riboflavin (vitamin B2) is one of those vitamins we don’t hear much about in petfood production. Unlike with several other vitamins, the requirement for dogs and cats has been relatively well researched, it hasn’t been implicated in unfounded controversy and petfood manufacturers fortify foods to the necessary level with relative ease.

Vitamin A – a balancing act

In an age of extremes and absolutes, vitamin A serves as a potent example of the necessity of balance in diet and nutrition. This is an important vitamin that has a direct effect on vision, the endocrine system in many ways and gene expression modulation.

Is vitamin C needed?

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) was discovered in 1928 as the agent in citrus that prevented scurvy. The structure of what was then called hexuronic acid was identified by Haworth in 1933, and a process for its synthesis was described by Reichstein in that same year.

Vitamin D -- for pets, sunlight isn't enough

We read a great deal about vitamin D in the popular press these days. Beyond the age-old deficiency diseases, it is now reported that supplemental vitamin D in people has an influence on a wide range of conditions including cognitive function, osteoporosis, fatigue, diabetes, cancer and more.

The 'catch me if you can' B vitamin

A recent recall regarding cat food suspected of being low in thiamine (vitamin B1) brings to light something that the regulatory agencies, ingredient suppliers and food industry (including petfood) have taken for granted for years-that all issues regarding vitamin losses from harvest to consumption have been conclusively modeled and addressed. Not so.

Vitamin K3: is it unnecessary and toxic?

There are no reports of nutritional toxicity of any vitamin K sources in dogs or cats readily available in the literature

Vitamin E

Vitamin E, in the parlance of nutrition, is a key nutrient with specific physiological functions and a chemical with varied configurations and properties. In petfood, we also speak of vitamin E as an ingredient purchased as part of a vitamin premix.

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