Small but Powerful: The Importance of Micro-Ingredients for Pet Health

Micro-ingredients are a valuable resource that can have an important impact on pet health, if we can manage to get the formulation just right. That is often one of the hardest tasks to achieve.

What are micro-ingredients?

Even though they are only present in tiny amounts in pet food, micro-ingredients are crucial when it comes to the health of our pets. As they should be, considering the variety of metabolic, immunological and structural roles they play in the organism.

We can roughly divide micro-ingredients into two major groups: inorganic (minerals and trace elements) and organic (vitamins, antioxidants, and other nutraceuticals). Between those two groups we can count more than 100 nutrients, some of them being essential, and others simply important, as they play a crucial role in providing beneficial effects when it comes to stress, pathologies or ageing of our pets.

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The right minerals and vitamins

Minerals and vitamins are fundamental as structural components of organs and tissues, and as co-factors in enzyme and hormone systems. Specific concentrations and functional forms of minerals and vitamins must be maintained within certain limits for optimal growth, health, and fertility.

To avoid deficiencies, or over-supplementation and possible toxicities, it is important to stay within recommended limitations. It is not as simple as that, however, because many factors can influence their activity, absorption and utilisation, including their formation in the food, concentrations of other micro and macronutrients (phytate or certain fibres), as well as processing and storage.

Finding the right balance

Our pets possess homeostatic mechanisms that attempt to maintain concentrations of minerals and vitamins within narrow physiologic limits despite over- or under-ingestion. Nevertheless, a toxic dose for trace elements and liposoluble vitamins can be easily reached if a mistake in the formulation or manufacturing process is made.

Vitamin D, for example, is an essential nutrient that allows regulation of the balance and retention of calcium and phosphorus. But, when high levels of vitamin D are consumed, excessive amounts are stored in fat tissue and the liver. Adverse health consequences can lead to kidney failure and even death.

Disease control

Meanwhile, to control certain pathologies, one would intentionally limit or increase the supplementation of specific nutrients to get the desired metabolic response. For example, to control chronic kidney disease, formulation of a diet with organically derived phosphorus at a level that is on the lower range of recommendations, is a scientifically proven approach. Additionally, higher concentrations of water-soluble vitamins would be provided to make up for losses through urine. Antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutraceuticals would slow down disease progression.

When it comes to kidney stones (urolithiasis), one would control the crystal formation mainly through adjusting the concentration of micro-ingredients, aiming for the perfect relative super saturation number.

There are many other chronic pathologies where we intentionally use and adapt micro-ingredient concentration, so that they contribute to controlling or preventing disease progression.

by Diana Brozić , Pets International