Q: "have you been reading the current debate on carbohydrates [on the FML]?
    Would you tell me if carbohydrates cause disease or not?"
 
A: Only if you send me a valium...
 
<sigh> I haven't really been following it because I've been out of town and
because I've been in the middle of some nasty (but benign) medical tests.
In response to this question, I briefly glanced through a FEW of them,
enough to make a few comments (and possibly enemies).
 
First, you simply cannot compare a human infant, dog or cat gastrointestinal
tract to that of a ferret without first taking into account the differences
in structure, enzyme production, histology, food transit time, and dozens
of other factors too numerous and complicated to explain in 126 lines (not
even in 126 pages).  But I will tell you this.  Digestive processes are
biochemical reactions, which minimally require energy for reaction
activation and at least two reactants.  Since mammal bodies are heat
sensitive, most chemical reactions would never take place without some sort
of catalyst; in animals, we call them enzymes.  They reduce the amount of
energy required to produce a particular reaction, which means you can
digest food without spontaneous combustion ruining your day.  Talk about
getting hot under the collar.
 
Now, here is the bottom line.  If you do not have the enzymes for specific
biochemical reactions, then they simply will not take place.  In digestive
terms, that means digestion will NOT occur.  The presence or absence of
these enzymes is directly related to the particular animals evolutionary
diet.  Animals which eat certain foods produce the proper enzymes to digest
that food; feed a cow ferret food and you will shortly have a very sick
animal.  No bull.  The same is true for strict carnivores.  In omnivores,
such as bears, raccoons and humans (and to a lesser extent, dogs), the
digestive enzymes are not really specialized.  Like a jack-of-all-trades,
they can get by on anything, but are an expert for nothing.  Ferrets are
experts at digesting ANIMAL foods.
 
Strict carnivores like the ferret simply cannot digest complex
carbohydrates or plant proteins which is why pet food makers process plant
ingredients so much.  The goal of the extended processing is to render the
complex stuff down to a form which CAN be digested by a carnivore.
Regardless of what might be bandied about by PR people, there are only two
real goals of including plant materials in strict carnivore diets; 1) to
create a carbohydrate binder so kibbles or pelleted shapes can be made,
and 2) because plant proteins are cheaper.  That's the bottom line.  It
isn't better, it is simply cheaper.
 
The important question is, is it good for the ferret?  In the case of
proteins, the body has little interest if a particular amino acid came from
corn or a pig.  An amino acid is an amino acid is an amino acid...period.
If the plant proteins are processed to the point where the intestinal tract
of a ferret see no difference between it and those from meat, then it makes
NO difference.  Carbohydrates are a different story.  Carbohydrates are
simply nothing more than one or more carbon atoms bonded to several
hydrogen atoms.  See?  Hydrated carbons?  Carbohydrates?  The simplest
carbohydrate is CH4; that is, 1 carbon bonded to 4 hydrogens.  Both
starches and fats are complex carbohydrates, but they have different
structures and require different enzymes, even though they ultimately
become nothing more than simple sugars.  The problem for ferrets is that
they are experts at digesting fats, but are really bad at digesting
starches.  They need help, so the pet food people cook the starches down
to make them more digestible.  And that, my friend, is the problem; I'm
not going to sugar-coat it.
 
The difference between fats and starches is that all starches end up as
sugars, but that is not necessarily true for fats.  Fats can be converted
into cellular lipids, they can be stored as fat, they can be made into
steroids, they can be incorporated into a bone or cartilage matrix, and on
and on and on.  So, in the ferret, fat may not be converted totally into
sugar, but starch always will be.  Also, the digestion of fat is a complex
and slow process compared to the digestion of carbohydrates.  That means
eating starches dumps a lot of sugar into your blood stream a lot faster
than if you ate the energy equivalent in fat, which is why athletes eat so
much pasta.  Now, sugars in the blood stream stimulate the production of
insulin; the more sugar, the more insulin.  Are you starting to see the
connections?  Ferrets evolved eating a diet LOW in carbohydrates which
means they have a digestive system reflecting that fact.  It makes NO
difference where the sugar comes from (corn or rice); they are simply NOT
well adapted to diet with consistently high levels of sugar.
 
I believe there is a statistical correlation between consuming starch
filled food and insulinoma in ferrets, but I cannot predict which ferret
will or will not contract pancreatic disease.  And in all honesty, I might
be wrong.  As for the rest of the arguments about Iams, I think you are
debating minutia.  I mean, if it is bad to eat corn because the
carbohydrates might cause disease, what's the difference if you are eating
rice?  You are talking about percentage points, NOT REAL DIFFERENCES.  If
one causes a problem in 50% of a population and the other in 65%, THEY ARE
BOTH STILL BAD!  It's like arguing one bullet makes a smaller hole as it
rips through your heart.
 
I like the debate, but I think most of the point has been lost in debating
minutia.  If both sides look at the real issues and debate those, I think
we all can benefit from the positive critical thinking and insightful
response.
 
Bob C and 16 MO' Critical Biters
[Posted in FML issue 3008]