Does My Dog Need Antioxidants
What Are Free Radicals? What Is Oxidative Stress
Did your eyes just glaze over and wonder what the heck that is or if it’s even a real thing?
Well, yes, it’s real. And it happens to all of us. Including your pet.
Free Radicals and Oxidative stress is something all of us are dealing with. And these free radicals take their toll on our cellular health. This can be where we start to see health issues arise.
Free Radicals
unstable atoms that cause damage to cells of the body.
It shows up in the form of Oxidative Stress and causes AGING and ILLNESS, including cancer.
It can cause effects like wrinkled skin or cells damaged so badly they lead to DIS-EASE in the body
Antioxidants destroy free radicals before they can attach to healthy cells. This reduces Oxidative stress and DNA damage! Antioxidants also help the body fight against viruses and bacteria.
One thing you might also want to know is the more free radicals that the body makes, the more antioxidants you need.
Even puppies may have antioxidant deficiencies. But think about your rescue dog that has perhaps had long-term poor nutrition or harsh chemical exposure. Did you know high-performance athletes are under oxidative stress too? (See below for a link to research using blueberries and sled dogs to introduce antioxidants into the diet)
Studies have shown that animals fed antioxidant-rich diets showed a decreased incidence of disease, and general overall improvements in quality of life and longer life spans. Studies also show antioxidant-rich diets support brain health as pets age.
You want that don’t you? Yes, You know you do.
How Do I Give My Dog Antioxidants
Whole Food & Supplements!
Most of your commercial pet foods — even the upper quality brands contain synthetic vitamins and minerals. These synthetics may be better than no vitamins and minerals, but they do not provide optimal nutrition. Even when we look at the minimum requirements for nutrients in our commercially prepared foods, they are just that minimum.
Oxidative damage from free radicals plays an important role in several diseases such as cancer, dementia, and heart disease.
I'm a big fan of supplements that contain these very high ORAC berries. It's a regular supplement for my dogs and myself. You may need to consider supplementing for your pet --- and adding some berries to your dog's snack list :-)
When I think of a dog that we are looking to aid in health recovery or the aging process, antioxidants should be a key part of the plan. So adding natural antioxidants can be very beneficial.
But be strategic and start slow. The body needs a bit of a gentle recovery. In fact, the may resist recovery initially and detox may be a challenge for the body -- we'll talk more about that soon.
Introduce fruits and berries slowly they are rich in fiber and offer natural sugars. So in some cases, it may make sense to supplement to higher amounts without added calories, volume or sugars. Remember to feed brightly colored fruits and vegetables.
ORAC scores: Oxygen Radical Absorbancy Capacity per 100g serving
Wolfberry ~30000 Gogi berry ~25000
Elderberry ~15000
Blackberry - 5300
Blueberry ~2400
Strawberry -- 1540
Raspberry --1220
There are many other foods with high orac scores — including some herbs and spices. Even Essential oils have ORAC scores and antioxidant properties
Did you it's been shown that when supplements like this are mixed with essential oils or other beneficial supplements -- they can actually work even better due to something called bioavailability?
See Pubmed Article about Blueberries supporting sled dogs oxidative stress: Blueberries