Grain-free diets are the fastest growing area of the animal
feed industry. This is in some ways characterized by a similar pattern in the
human food industry due to concerns about celiac disease. Celiac disease is
sporadic in dogs. This makes the switch to grain-free dog food not- crucial to
some dog owners. However, for some, they want a grain free dog food.
So what dog food is grain free?
A grain-free food implies food with no gluten. Let me
expound on this.
What is Gluten?
Gluten is a protein present in grains such as wheat,
rice, oats, and many more. Gluten
provides the quality that makes the dough rise and allows bread and pasta to
retain their shape. It also gives these foods the "tough"
quality.
It is generally assumed that many dogs are hypersensitive to
gluten and you need to switch from grains to grain free dog foods.
Why change?
The evidence does not suggest that grains are bad for all
dogs and grain free is better. By limiting carbohydrate, dieting proves to be senselessly
prohibitive. Commercial grain-free diets are generally much more expensive than
those containing grains, so meaningless changes increase the cost of dog food.
Grain-free dog food depends on carbohydrate sources that are high in fiber and increases
the stool production of dogs that support these diets.