Seminar Notes

Today, Amy and I went to a seminar for CE hours focusing on nutrition sponsored by Purina. I was very uneasy about going and figured I would have a hard time "fitting in" and learning something. I went in with an open mind, thinking that I might just learn something. Even though they were all conventional vets who feed kibble, etc I actually did learn a good deal today and I'm glad that I went. I will say that all that was discussed today just further deepened my beliefs about raw. It seems so contradictory to me that so many highly educated people can't get such simple ideas about nutrition/diets. I guess the bottom dollar is what is in the way of better, more logical ways to look at things.

There were 4 lectures/speakers in total, and they were all great! Here are my personal notes on each lecture...sorry in advance if they seem random LOL I was writing as fast as they were speaking!

Debra L. Zoran, DVM, PhD, DACVIM

"Understanding the role of diet and enteric bacteria in development of feline diarrhea."

*Total bacterial function in the gut is equal to the function of a major organ such as the liver or kidneys.

*Bacteria in the gut are in balance: protective v. aggressive (facultative pathogenic)

---> eubyosis v. dysbiosis (balanced v. imbalanced)

*Satellite flora: pathogenic are present but only ~1% of population in the gut.

Protective Bacteria
*decrease the pH
*release bacteriocidal proteins
*colonization resistance
*block binding of pathogens
*alters immunoregulation
*increase epithelial and mucosal barrier

*GI tract is the leading/major cause/reason for allergic reactions, pro-inflammatory reactions and immunoregulation reactions.

*Obese animals (people) have a completely different bacterial flora which are in decreased function and health.

Out of Balance
*stress, diet, climate, microorganisms, infections, allergies, ageing, GI function, nutrient absorption, drugs <---antibiotics and antacids (change the internal environment)

*Induced IBD is different than permanent IBD which needs lifelong therapy and drugs and change in diet (...but here we all know what the culprit is with many of these severe cases of IBD is...Grissom was our poster child in the beginning)

*Any disruption to the balance that causes an immune response isn't always IBD

*Steroid therapy is NOT curative but is a cheap "fix" to the situation.

*Mild to moderate infiltration can be reversed, but severe cases cannot always be repaired (injury and distress to intestinal tissue)

Diagnosis with Blood Panel
*albumin-low end of normal range (could be IBD but also lymphoma or in the process of becoming lymphoma)

Diagnosis by GI Function
*cobalamin is low (pathogens)
-->normal-mild to moderate, can be fixed
-->abnormal-severe cases can lead to lymphoma, cannot be fixed
*folate is high
*PLI (pancreas enzymes) low in advanced cases
*TLI (weight loss)

IBD: Multifactorial
*immune response
*genetic susceptability
*luminal microbial antigens and adjuvents
*environmental triggers
--> substances added to upholstered home furnishings get on the fur of cats that then lick/groom themselves and are ingested.

Understanding Flora
*culture method
-->pros: easy to collect, aerobic species
-->cons: anaerobes die (pathogens)
*molecular method
-->FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization, basically everything shows up as a different color on a slide for a microscope)
-->DNA probes
**ALL of this tells us what is there but NOT what its doing.

"Cats on a carb based diet and increased numbers and types of species of bacteria compared to cats on protein diets" (Richie, et all. MS dissertation, TAMU 2008)(FISH)

*Cats on increased carb diets hand increased breath hydrogen and other indicators of bacterial metabolism.

*Diet composition changes flora, # and species of bacteria (carbs=more, protein=less)

*Cats with IBD have changes in their microbiome which may be the cause of it or not.

*Dietary allergy or intolerance? (a HUGE %age of patients are intolerant to just ONE ingredient causes changes in flora which causes inflammatory reaction= NOT AN ALLERGY BUT MAY PRESENT AS ONE!!!)
-->change in diet is essential (switch to raw LOL)

Protein Digestability
*protein is most important to assess the source and processing in foods (most effected by processing compared to other ingredients)
*cooking/processing cause major changes to essential nutrients (less digestible)
*in commercial diets digestibility of proteins is average of 75%
-->increased quality feeds protein digestibility is >85% (max 94%)
*maldigested protein feeds pathogenic bacteria which causes fecal odor and gas (from change in flora)
*cats have fewer amylases than omnivores (meaning they are not capable of digesting carbs well at all)

Protein Sources
*meat sources are very highly digestible
*soy sources- digestible but not ideal
*corn/wheat gluten- not digestible BUT increase the protein %age in the food to make the total protein % higher (trying to seem like a better food)
*in natural state proteins of all kinds are at the highest digestibility

Metronidazole
*functions by fragmenting DNA of pathogenic bacteria
*long term use shows breaks in DNA in epithelial cells of the intestine (not a big deal because the slough off anyways and regenerate) but also in lymphocytes (is a big deal because they have a longer lifespan as a cell and can cause serious impaired function of the immune response)

Probiotics
*every bacteria has a different niche so using just ONE probiotic does NOTHING in the grand scheme of things
*are used to "repopulate" the gut of natural flora, or keep flora in balance BUT there are many different players in the normal flora in the gut so its impossible to really "replace" it accurately
*very specific uses for each one, and there is NO data for companion animals BUT they MAY work

Prebiotics
*fruits and veggies provide soluble fiber to "feed" bacteria because commercial foods are full of insoluble fiber (fillers)