Let's Talk Protein

When Dr. Jennifer Adolphe prepared to speak to a gathering of the nation’s top dog trainers and behaviorists in Portland this fall, her topic had nothing to do with updates on behavioral science or training approaches. She came to talk about nutrition.

What goes in our dogs’ bowls — and then into their bellies — has far-reaching impacts, not only on their physical and behavioral health, but on the economy, the environment, and the welfare of other animals.

After years of study, she’s ready to challenge many of our long-held notions about one nutrient in particular: protein.

“I think a lot of people are probably overfeeding protein. There’s a lot of very high protein diets on the market. That might be right in some situations, but I think a more moderate protein is probably a good option for the majority of pets. It’s about balance,” she says.

Dr. Adolphe holds a PhD in companion animal nutrition and is the nutrition manager at Petcurean Pet Foods Ltd. As the recipient of more than 20 industry awards and scholarships, with numerous peer-reviewed publications, she is a recognized authority on pet nutrition.

Protein is a hot topic, not only because of popular belief in its supremacy among nutrients, but because certain sources of protein are under the microscope of a far-reaching investigation into possible food-related cases of cardiomyopathy in dogs. When Spot interviewed Dr. Adolphe in late October, she shared her insights on the investigation, cautioning against making panicked dietary changes or rejecting any class of ingredients before the study has a chance to yield useful information.

While the FDA investigation may take years to yield reliable, instructive data about the specifics of one disease, Dr. Adolpohe says there’s a vast world of nutritional knowledge that we can use every day, right now, to make sound choices about what to feed our dogs.

First, though, we might have to reject much of what we think we already know.

Myth: Protein provides energy

“Protein is not meant to be an energy source,” Dr. Adolphe says. Our bodies burn carbohydrate and fat for energy. Protein is a building block. Specifically, the body uses it as a precursor to build its own protein.

Dr. Adolphe would like to temper the current craze over high-protein, meat-based pet foods.

“I’m not saying we all need to follow a vegan lifestyle or that animals don’t need protein; they absolutely do. But we need to be mindful. The trend has been for foods to have high levels of protein, and [there’s a belief that] it’s the end-all and be-all nutrient. It’s not healthy for an animal to survive only on meat. It doesn’t provide the full complement of nutrients.”

Myth: Dogs’ wild ancestors ate meat, meat, and nothing but meat

“Dogs are really scavengers,” says Dr. Adolphe. Evidence indicates that wild dog ancestors ate whatever they could find, including plants. In the past, archaeologists likely over-estimated the importance of meat in ancient human and dog diets because the evidence that survives over centuries doesn’t tell the whole story. Remains of human and dog ancestors may be found near the remains of the animals they ate because bones easily fossilize. Those humans and dogs probably ate far more plants than the evidence would suggest, because plants don’t fossilize as readily. Modern DNA testing is now revealing a more complete picture.

Myth: ancient dogs ate raw meat, so modern dogs should too

“It’s been tens of thousands of years that they’ve evolved to live in our households and be family members,” Dr. Adolphe tells us. Their wolf ancestors at least occasionally ate raw, freshly-killed prey, but modern household dogs bear little resemblance to wolves in terms of energy expenditure and nutrient requirements.

Also, ancient dogs would never have been exposed to the potential dangers of raw meat from our modern slaughterhouses and processing plants. Meat now is unsafe unless it’s thoroughly cooked.

Fact: we need nutrients, not ingredients

“Dogs have quite a lot of flexibility in terms of which ingredients they can eat in order to meet their nutrient requirements. We need nutrients, not ingredients,” says Dr. Adolphe.

We’ve been taught that protein comes from meat, fish, and eggs. But it’s also abundant in many other foods, including grains, beans, and legumes.

Fact: there are many far-reaching consequences from food choices

Protein is costly, and not just in terms of its price per pound. As Dr. Adolphe points out, it’s expensive to produce, metabolize, and eliminate.

Aside from the inescapable animal welfare costs to animals raised and killed for food, “It’s economically expensive because it costs a lot to raise animals [for meat]. And with the water use involved in livestock production, we need to be responsible in using those protein sources.”

Eating and digesting high-protein foods bears other costs as well. “We eat protein, it gets digested and broken down into amino acids, and those are then used to build muscle and different tissues of our body,” says Dr. Adolphe, bringing us all back to the anatomy and physiology classes of our past. This metabolic process creates nitrogens. “That nitrogen has to be dealt with. It’s excreted in our urine and it can become an environmental contaminant.”

So, What Now?

On the subject of nutrition, we all know we can ask ten experts and get twelve divergent opinions. It’s difficult to find science-based information unmarred by ideology or industry P.R.

The best approach, then?

1.   Trust science. Talk to a career scientists like Dr. Adolphe, and you’re reminded that the facts bear out what common sense could have already revealed. Our dogs need nutrients. They need a diet that provides adequate calories to meet their energy needs, along with protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Multiple ingredients provide those nutrients.

2.   Be wary of fads. They’re often driven more by marketing than sound nutritional science.

3.   Don’t marry yourself to one ideology. Your dog’s nutritional needs will change through her life phases and in response to her medical condition and energy level. It’s unlikely that any one feeding approach, no matter how well thought out, will serve her for her entire life.

4.   Look at the big picture. What ingredients are in your dog’s food? What are the animal welfare and environmental practices of the companies that produce it? In Dr. Adolphe’s words, “We need to be mindful,” choosing foods that meet a dog’s nutritional needs while being as careful as possible with the world’s resources.