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WYSONG COMPANIONANIMAL HEALTH LETTER
Dr. R. L. Wysong
November 1996
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FAD DIETS AND BOGEYMEN
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Recently ABC’s 20/20 Television Program contacted our
offices wanting to interview me regarding pet foods.
The reporter wanted me to tell them what I knew about all the “bad”
things that are going into pet foods. She had
heard about hair, hooves, feathers, guts, 4-D meat (dead, dying, diseased, disabled), and
even euthanized dogs and cats as ingredients.
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I explained that these were not ingredients that we used,
but that unless she was looking for a story that simply sounded sensational, she was going
to have difficulty arguing how these ingredients, in and of themselves, are the real
culprits in causing harm to pets. I
explained, for example, that in the wild, carnivores eat all of the things that she
believed were so awful. For example, 4-D meat
is the exact thing that even the most robust carnivore consumes. They don’t bring down the healthiest animals
in a herd. They take the easy meal –
which is often the dead, dying, diseased, and disabled.
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I went on to explain that the real problem in the pet food
industry was the bogus “100% complete and balanced” claim, and further detailed
that this was literally robbing the health of millions of animals. I shared with her various scientific articles
proving that foods with “100% complete and balanced” labels caused a variety of
diseases and tens of thousands of deaths. We
sent her literature proving these points and I told her that if she wanted to address this
in the program, I would do all that I could to help, since it is a mistaken notion by the
pet-feeding public that they can feed one food out of a can or bag for an animal’s
entire life and create good health. That is
the real demon that needs to be exposed.
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She listened politely, but I could tell from her questioning
that she still liked the idea of being able to do a story about the fact that inner tubes,
industrial sludge, and ground up old shoes went into pet foods. She said she would get back to me.
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A while later she called again wanting to know if I knew of
a rendering plant she could visit. I said
there are several all over the country, but I was not sure that is something that she
would find to be a very pleasant experience whether she was trying to find out what went
into human foods or into animal foods. This
query was after she had received all of our literature explaining in detail that foisting
“100% complete and balanced” foods was the real problem that needed to be
addressed.
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I didn’t see it but I did hear that 20/20 did do a
program on pet foods in which they emphasized the “inferior” ingredients which
were going into pet foods. Although they only
mentioned in passing my argument about the fallacious “100% complete” claim.
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I have seen, over the past year in particular, a variety of
articles in publications also attempting to make boogie men out of the various ingredients
that are used in pet foods. I certainly don’t
deny that the quality of ingredients can make a significant difference in pet foods. But, these arguments are dealing with symptoms and
not fundamental causes. Is the trick simply
to find a pet food that has no feathers, 4-D meat, euthanized dogs and cats, or viscera in
it? Sure, everyone would like to believe,
that pet foods only contain filet mignon, chicken cordon bleu, and choice grade A rack of
lamb – all for $7.00 per 50 lb. bag. You
see, pet food manufacturers are magicians able to convert something like lamb at
$12.00/lb. into a $7.00 per 50 lb. “100% complete and balanced” product. It creates a sensational story when people then
learn that their pet food containing “poultry” may contain poultry “guts.”
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People think about food in terms of good or bad based upon
what they would like to put on their own plate and not necessarily what would be best for
the health of the animal. The viscera of
poultry, for example, can be one of the most nutritious parts of the entire chicken. If Americans hear that poultry feet go into a pet
food, they feel revulsion. But, pet food
manufacturers who have used poultry feet now can no longer even obtain them because they
are being sold at a premium into Japan as a delicacy for human consumption. So what is “good to eat” and what is
“bad to eat” has become what our arbitrary emotional reaction is to the
ingredients, not whether it actually fits the genetic criteria for healthy food for the
animal.
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As I continually repeat in the Health Letter, it is the
“100% complete and balanced” myth that is the real danger. But in addition to this, there is an even more
fundamental and insidious danger which we all choose to overlook. That is population.
Not only is human
population a fundamental problem, the basic engine that drives almost all social,
environmental, and economic ills for humans, but it is also a problem that is compounded
by a swelling pet population. Our Earth is
finite. Its resources are finite and
dependent upon precarious tillable soils and weather.
Can we all really just continue to swell the ranks of humans and pets
without limit, when the resources upon which these creatures depend is finite?
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As population continues to grow (and I am speaking here of
both human and pet), being choosy about what we eat ourselves or feed to our animals may
be a luxury that will become lost. Increasingly,
as consumers demand inexpensive foods but yet continue to increase demand through
population pressure, little more than sawdust, hair, and feathers may be available.
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Don’t be misled by all of the sensational pet food
ingredient boogie men that are being purveyed. First
things first. Population must be controlled
within the sustainable limits of our planet. Next,
no creature should eat a singular food regardless of its claims about being “100%
complete and balanced,” day in and day out, for its entire life. When choosing a commercial food, pick the one with
the best ingredients, to address the health of your animal and not your emotional
inclinations.
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- HOSPITAL DANGERS
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Everyone assumes that if you
go to the hospital, or you take your pet to the hospital, things will be done to restore
health.
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But consider this. Studies have shown that as many as 36% of patients
admitted to a university hospital suffered iatrogenic (doctor-caused) injury and up to 25%
of these injuries were serious or fatal. Similarly,
65% of cardiac arrests at a teaching hospital were preventable.
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The most common cause of
iatrogenic injury is improper use of drugs. Typically
about 180,000 people die each year as a direct result of iatrogenic injury.
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Although I know of no similar
studies for veterinary hospital admissions, there is no reason to believe a similar danger
does not exist. The majority of veterinary
medicine is conducted just like conventional human medicine – using the same
diagnostic, surgical and pharmaceutical approaches.
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The fault cannot entirely lie
with veterinarians or physicians. When people
see illness they want something done about it – now. People see disease as something for which modern
medicine will surely have a quick fix. So
people go the veterinarian (or visit their physician) for every little ill and expect
something to be done. Even if the
veterinarian may understand that whatever condition your animal has may easily resolve
itself with time, they know that you will not be satisfied unless something is done. So the doctor may hospitalize the animal, they may
do diagnostic tests, they may then administer various pharmaceutical agents. All of this is in an attempt to create a quick fix
to please the client.
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But all of modern invasive
and pharmaceutical interventions are laden with contraindications and inherent dangers. Add to this the possibility of contagion picked up
within the hospital, and the weakening of the immune system as a result of the stress of
being hospitalized, and you have the formula for disaster.
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Certainly seek professional
help when it is really needed. But don't be
so quick to run for medical help with the slightest ill.
Give nature a chance to take its course. I would estimate that as many as 90% of all human
and veterinary visits are totally unnecessary and would resolve themselves given nothing
more than time. If you additionally follow
the Wysong Feeding-For-Health
Program you will decrease the possibility of illness in the first place, and if illness
does strike, shorten its grip.
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Reference:
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JAMA,
December 1994; 272: 1851 (WHL Vol 9-10 page 3)
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- OBESITY RESISTANCE
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No current treatment reliably
sustains the loss of weight achieved by dieters. This
is for two reasons. One is that the body
adjusts itself metabolically to increased weight, so that any change downward is resisted. It’s kind of like the body has set the
thermostat lower. Secondly, the common
approach to weight loss is wrong. It does not
address the fundamental causes and focuses on quick fixes including drugs, surgery, and
nutritional fad products.
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Obesity is a modern lifestyle
and dietary problem. It results from a
departure from our proper environmental context. All
band-aide efforts to maintain healthy weight will ultimately either fail or cause spin-off
diseases. I discuss this at length in my book
The Synorgon Diet: How To Achieve Healthy Weight In
A World Of Excess (see Resource below). Although addressing humans, the principle I
discuss there also applies to pets as well.
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Body weight is ultimately
determined by energy taken in versus energy expended.
If we take in more food energy than we expend, the excess will be deposited
as fat. Energy expenditure is the combination
of resting energy used for just the processes of living, such as the heart beating,
breathing and maintaining high concentration gradients across cell membranes. This accounts for 60% of total energy expenditure. The thermic effect of digesting, transporting and
depositing foods during digestion accounts for about 30% of energy expenditure. Only about 10% of energy, therefore, is normally
consumed by physical activity.
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Thus you can see, the vast
majority of energy usage by the body is more or less involuntary in the form of resting
metabolic energy and thermic digestive energy.
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The involuntary energy
expenditure going on in the body moment by moment increases as body weight is increased. Unfortunately, it does not increase
proportionately with increased body weight. In
fact, compensatory changes that do occur actually end up opposing the maintenance of a new
reduced body weight different than the usual heavier
weight when sudden dramatic changes in weight from “dieting” occur.
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For example, loss of 10%
weight will result in reduced energy expenditure by 15%.
So if 2000 kilocalories per day are consumed, that would mean 300
kilocalories (15%) per day would be left over for redeposition as fat. So when dieting occurs and weight is lost, the
body simply lowers the thermostat disproportionately causing less metabolic energy to be
burned – preserving fat deposits – and yet at the same time there will be an
increased sense of hunger.
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Little wonder dieting is so
often foiled. The key is to change the way
dieting is approached. The change in
lifestyle and nature of food consumed is required for lasting benefit. Use the Wysong feeding for Health Guide on p. 4
including all supplements. Additionally, it
is very important to work at it slowly and be content with small incremental changes. By such steady gradual change, the body has a
chance to readjust metabolically so that lasting
benefit can be achieved.
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Reference:
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The
Synorgon Diet is available from the Wysong Book Store Catalog for $12.95 + S&H.
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The
New England Journal of Medicine, March 9, 1995: 621-
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- CONTIFIN™
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Research and development on
the first in a line of Wysong Nutrient Support Formulas (NSF) has been completed. The first formula is appropriately called Contifin™. It
is specifically designed to prevent degradation of and stimulate healing in connective
tissue injuries, including those occurring within blood vessel walls, intervertebral
discs, ligaments, cartilage, joints and tendons.
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A more complete list of
possible uses includes osteoarthritis, arthritis, intervertebral disc disease, ankylosing
spondylitis, chondromalacia patellae, cartilage eburnation, tendonitis, bursitis, fracture
repair, tendon and ligament tears and repair, ligament sprains, post-surgery skin wound
healing, and carpal tunnel syndrome.
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The formula has been designed
for use both in animals and humans, as evidenced by some of the conditions it is targeted
at in the above list. Humans and animals are
subject to the same degenerative conditions as a result of modern living conditions which
remove us both from our proper environmental context.
Thus similar remedies apply.
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The supplement will come in
capsule form and contain a variety of natural ingredients derived primarily from cartilage
and connective tissue. Research backing for the use of Contifin™
ingredients is extensive and impressive, including hundreds of clinical studies. One of the ingredients, glucosamine, has been
found to be the most effective treatment available for arthritic conditions, even compared
to the most powerful arthritis pharmaceuticals, including NSAIDs (nonsteroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs). These benefits are
without the severe side effects from commonly used pharmaceuticals.
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The health and restoration of
damaged connective tissue, including cartilage in the joints, is dependent upon the right
nutrients available for the body to repair and build tissue that is damaged. The make-up of cartilage, for example, consists of
cells (such as chondrocytes) that synthesize collagen and proteoglycans. These complex filamentous-like materials create a
matrix that holds water and gives connective and joint tissues viscoelastic properties
resulting in elasticity, flexibility and resistance to compression.
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We are completing our
technical brochure on the product wherein all of these things are described in more
detail, but let it be said at this point that the combination of nutritional ingredients
such as glucosamine, collagen, amino acids, chondroitin and a variety of other components
serve as important precursors that stimulate the body repair.
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What’s so remarkable
about this is that up until now, many joint conditions have been viewed as irreparable. Now evidence proves that this is not at all the
case. For example, in one study using just
one Contifin ingredient, 252 doctors in Portugal studying over 1200 patients reported over
95% improvement – and this improvement continued for a long as 6-12 weeks after
treatment stopped. The researchers concluded,
even having all of the modern pharmacological agents at their disposal, that this was
“better than any other treatment.”
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Reference:
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See
Wysong Contifin™ Monograph
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