Meaningless numbers based on false assumptions.
Did you know that not all nutrients are equal? Raw natural wholefood-based ingredients are virtually 100% bioavailable compared with processed, chemically derived, man-made ingredients which are frequently voided in the faeces without being absorbed at all. So what is the point of having a nutrient analysis when none of the nutrients are absorbed?
So, let’s look at calcium as a simple example.
What’s the nutrient analysis of a piece of chalk?
Almost 100% calcium carbonate. And how much of that is absorbed, if you chose to use this as your source of calcium? The answer depends on two main things:
- The body’s ability to produce the enzymes required to digest, absorb and use it.
- The activity of the probiotics in the gut which can take these inorganic minerals and combine them with enzymes, just like all plants do, so the body can access them.
So there is no real answer. But most is excreted in the faeces, so the answer would be pretty close to zero. And the excess of that which is absorbed and fails to be excreted is stored in the joints and blood vessel walls, contributing to arthritis and hardening of the arteries. Wow. Positively dangerous wouldn’t you say!
What’s the nutrient content of wheatgrass juice?
Approximately 7.2mg calcium per fluid ounce and numerous other really important minerals, vitamins, antioxidants and more. And how much of that is absorbed? Because it is raw, all its enzymes are alive and well, so it is more or less 100% absorbed.
Which would you choose? The nutrient analysis of 100% Calcium or of 7.2mg per fluid ounce?
Without understanding anything about its bioavailability, one would choose the highest value in the nutrient analysis. A complete waste of money and a positive danger to health.
This is why nutrient analysis is generally a waste of time!
All the ingredients in PET Plus are as close to 100% bioavailable as possible. The addition of extra special enzymes to the formulation ensures this. And being whole food based, everything is in perfect balance, as nature provided.
We humans love to complicate things, so in the 1950s we invented RDAs (Recommended Daily Allowances) theoretically to eliminate nutritional deficiencies in processed foods for humans. An attempt was made to guess what percentage would be absorbed by any individual and a ‘fudge factor’ was added in the hope that more than enough was suggested. The same crazy notion has been used by the pet food industry as well.
Based on this inaccurate guesstimate of what is theoretically required by any individual, people have made wild assertions that a dog needs x amount of calcium, y amount of phosphorus and so on for all the nutrients and micronutrients that we humans have managed to identify, isolate, patent and manufacture.
It’s actually all about money. If it cannot be patented, no-one is interested!!! It is not possible to patent a plant, thank goodness, so we have largely escaped this madness.
People are still obsessed with knowing the details of everything because we have all been brainwashed into believing it is true and important. Then armed with this misinformation, they look at the list of what is theoretically required for the health of their dog, cat, child or anything, and blindly pick the supplement with the nutrient analysis that most closely matches the list they have mistakenly understood to be needed.
This misinformation is really dangerous because using isolated, man-made minerals, vitamins and other micronutrients causes devastating imbalances in the body. The body is designed to recognise and use the 100% bioavailable ingredients found in raw food. It can store the excesses for later use and expel the excesses that it does not need and cannot store.
I am reminded of a nutritionist friend funded to do a research project on isolated vitamins at university. She ran a study giving people various measured amounts of man-made vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and measuring how much was excreted in their urine in order to review the RDA of vitamin C in humans. She was astonished to find that most of it was excreted, whatever the dosage, and so asserted that there was no vitamin C deficiency in the population she studied. When I suggested that maybe it was because the vitamin C she had chosen was not bioavailable, she simply didn’t know what to do as this completely invalidated her study.
This is the kind of lunacy that produces the RDAs.
Stay with raw, vegan, wholefood plant-based, superfood supplements with extra enzymes, like PET Plus, and you know that you and your pets will be getting all they need.