Nobody likes an impostor… am I right?
Yet you may have already come face-to-face with this unexpected trickster… and not even known it.
You see, in the world of dog food, protein really is the Holy Grail. Dogs crave it for survival. And manufacturers market it for profit.
That’s why the higher the protein content… the better the perceived value of any dog food.
It’s Not Just the Amount… That Counts
But the amount of protein only tells half the story. It’s also a protein’s digestibility… and its usability… that matter more.
And that’s the problem.
You see… protein can come from just about anywhere… even from mostly non-nutritious sources… like leather, hair, feathers, chicken beaks… or that mysterious (non-meat) protein impostor… gluten.
Basically… gluten is what’s left over from wheat that’s first been turned into dough… and then had all of its starchy carbohydrate dissolved out of it. The rubbery protein residue that’s left is the gluten.
Think of wheat gluten as a sort of vegetable “protein concentrate”.
Now, strictly speaking… gluten comes mainly from wheat. But other grains can also be used to create a similar product many processors inaccurately also refer to as gluten.
For example, soy gluten is more commonly known in the human food industry as “tofu”. Another product, corn gluten, is the most common non-wheat type you’ll come across on a dog food ingredients list.
Although they’re quite nutritious for humans, gluten-type ingredients present certain problems when added to dog food.
The Four Most Common Problems
with Gluten-Type Ingredients
Here are four important things to know about these inferior protein ingredients…
1. Glutens are not nearly as nutritionally “complete” as meat-based proteins. They’re lacking in many of the ten essential amino acids dogs require to sustain life
2. Glutens are much more difficult for a dog to digest… than meat
3. Glutens unjustly raise the protein proportion in the “Guaranteed Analysis” section of a dog food label. So, manufacturers frequently add them to make a product look better than it really is
4. Glutens are a frequent cause of dog food allergies
By the way, watch out for the phrase “gluten meals”. For all practical purposes, they are glutens, too.
I hope that by now you’re beginning to see the overall picture. Gluten should always be considered a lower quality dog food ingredient… and one protein substitute you’d certainly be wise to avoid.
