the impact of diet on allergies – study published

A large study published several days ago in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine shows how huge a role your puppy’s diet plays in the development of allergies in adulthood.

Nowadays, when it seems that almost every other dog suffers from some sort of allergy. It is important to understand why this is so, and more importantly – to learn how allergies can be prevented.

Researchers at the University of Helsinki studied the relationship between allergy and atopy related skin symptoms in adult dogs. And different types of diets as well as individual dietary food items in the same 4022 dogs when they were puppies. And they concluded the following

Puppies who ate at least 20% of raw food, or less than 80% of industrial dry food, had a significantly decreased prevalence of allergy and atopy related skin symptoms in adult age.

Also, with puppies fed with 80% and more dry food, there was a significant increase in the prevalence of allergy and atopy related skin symptoms later in life.

Of course, the lowest incidence of allergies and atopy related skin symptoms was in dogs that were fed exclusively BARF diet as puppies.

According to Anna Hielm- Björkman, a docent from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki and research group team leader:

The puppies that had been fed raw tripe, raw organ meats, and human meal leftovers during puppyhood showed significantly less allergy and atopy related skin symptoms in adult life. On the other hand, puppies eating most of their food as dry food, i.e., kibble, had significantly more allergy and atopy related skin symptoms in adulthood. These findings indicate that it was the raw food component that was the beneficial health promotor, and that even as little as 20% of the diet being raw foods, already gives health benefits.

All this is very logical when we know that allergy is nothing but a disorder in the immune system that occurs due to problems in the gut (the gut is the largest immune centre of the body).

A gut irritated by inappropriate food that is difficult to digest and which contains harmful chemicals, that is, food that adversely affects the healthy microflora, is where hypersensitivity reactions occur.

So, the only thing we can say when asked when to start feeding BARF is – the sooner the better. We often hear something like – let the puppy grow a bit and then we’ll start feeding it BARF. It’s like saying – let the child grow up to the age of 18 and then we’ll start giving him/her fresh fruit and vegetables.

Why not do everything to avoid scenarios in which your pet scratches and nibbles at itself all the time, loses hair, licks its paws and exhibits all other symptoms that greatly reduce its quality of life. This also forces you to visit the vet countless times and pay for expensive treatments that ultimately merely “tone down” the symptoms, but do not solve the cause.