[DogFoodie]

Good Morning Everyone!

I’d like to get your feedback on grain inclusive diets.

Do you feel that there are some grains that are “less worse” than other grains; ie: millet or barley versus corn or wheat, etc.? Do you ever or would you consider grain inclusive foods?

I recently was reviewing Susan Thixton’s favorite foods and was considering trying a couple of them (my poor little guinea pigs!) but I like the looks of the following kibbled foods:

Nature’s Logic (I have tried their canned and like it), but the dry contains millet (2nd ingredient – NOT in red on DFA);

and Mulligan Stew which contains brown rice (2nd ingredient – in red on DFA) and oats (third ingredient – NOT in red on DFA).

I appreciate your input!

Peace & Blessings, Betsy

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Betsy!

I don’t have an issue with quinoa, buckwheat, amaranth or millet. These are actually “pseudo-grains” (not true grains) and they’re all gluten free. I would have no issue with feeding Nature’s Logic (in fact my cats eat Nature’s Logic) but I would not feed the Mulligan’s Stew for a few reasons: 1) too low in protein, 2) too low in fat, 3) contains cane molasses (sugar!), 4) oats are often contaminated with gluten, 5) rice, as we know, can be contaminated with arsenic and this contains brown rice which is said to be higher in arsenic than white rice. I also don’t have an issue with sprouted grains of any sort. I recently started including sprouted grains in my dogs’ raw food occasionally – the sprouting processes eliminates all the bad things grains are known for (lectins and phytic acid, etc.).

[Shawna]

Hi Betsy!

Ditto to HDM’s entire post 🙂 My kibble fed dogs just finished a bag of Nature’s Logic a few weeks ago…

[DogFoodie]

Hi guys!

Thanks for your help on this!

So, to follow-up on what I’ve now learned about “pseudo-grains,” do you believe these ingredients offer worthwhile nutritional value that you would actually seek out or is it a matter of not really minding that they’re in a kibble? Also, are these pseudo-grains used as binders ~ or maybe I should ask, why do you think they’re put in dog food in the first place?

[DogFoodie]

And, one last question…

What about these pseudo grains and aflatoxin?

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Betsy –

Very good questions!

To give my opinion on your first question – my answer would be that it depends on what kind of food we’re talking about. If we’re talking about kibble – a food in which a carbohydrate binder is required – I would put foods that utilize pseudo-grains as binders on the same level as “grain-free” foods that use potato, tapioca or legumes. So if, for example, there I had two kibbles to choose from and each had an equal amount of protein and fat, one used millet as a starch and one used tapioca – I would give no preference. As for a homemade diet in which it’s possible to not use any starches, no I wouldn’t add any pseudograins (unless they were sprouted!) or any other starches for that matter.

To answer your second question – yes, pseudo-grains are susceptible to aflatoxin contamination. But, keep in mind, it’s not only grains and pseudo-grains that can be contaminated with aflatoxin. Many seeds (such as sunflower seeds and cottonseeds), nuts (coconut, almonds, pistachios, walnuts, peanuts), spices (turmeric, ginger, chile peppers, black pepper, coriander) and even dairy products derived from animals fed feed that contained aflatoxin are commonly contaminated with aflatoxin.

[pugmomsandy]

Any thoughts on sorghum?

• This reply was modified 12 years ago by pugmomsandy.

[theBCnut]

My dog that can’t handle a lot of grains can handle sorghum. At least, he did well on DinOvite and it has sorghum in it.

[DogFoodie]

I fed Mulligan Stew to Sam and Bella and it contains cane molasses (which I think is somewhat similar to sorghum) and both of them did fine on it. I may have to do another trial of MS with Sam, because it contains grains (ground brown rice and oats) and he didn’t seem to have any issues with it at all. Now that you’ve got me thinking about it again, it doesn’t make sense that he was fine with the grain in it.

Just FYI, from ehow.com:

Origin
Molasses syrup is made from sugar cane and is essentially uncrystalized sugar. Sorghum is made of juice derived from the sweet sorghum cane stalk, a crop native to Africa.

Processing
To make molasses, sugar cane is crushed and the juice is extracted and boiled down into a syrup. This syrup is boiled again with the addition of milk and an alkaline solution. The mixture is left to sit for two days until it begins to granulate, at which point the syrup is drained out, packaged and sold as molasses. To make sorghum, the juice is squeezed or pressed out from the sweet sorghum cane stalk and boiled down into syrup form. It is not as heavily processed as molasses.

• This reply was modified 12 years ago by DogFoodie.

[Hound Dog Mom]

I’ve always read sorghum has a similar nutritional profile to corn. It seems to typically be used in lower quality foods so I’d assume it’s a cheap filler that is used because it doesn’t look as offensive as corn on an ingredient panel.

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