The Argument Against Kelp in Pet Foods

[Perseus]

Kelp is one of those ongoing considerations where one day you hear it's beneficial against hyperthyroidism (especially in cats) and the next day you hear just the opposite.  I'm seeing it more often used in pet foods, and I'm also hearing of more allergies to it as well.

There are some strong arguments against using it in pet foods, and from all places the pet food industry itself.  Here's an excellent article from petfoodindustry.com that fairly well sums the disadvantages of using it:

"The motivation to incorporate kelp in the diet has to be driven by a consumer-based message of delivering iodine in a unique form or a deliberate effort to reduce the number of chemical sounding descriptors on the ingredient panel.

The iodine content of kelp can vary greatly and at the extreme high-end of the range could be considered a goitrogen. Further, kelp can bio-concentrate more than just iodine; for example, toxic levels of arsenic have also been noted.

Full article here:
http://www.petfoodindustry.com/ViewArticle.aspx?id=21972

[Bonkers]

 Yes, some animals can be sensitive to kelp just as some can be sensitive to brewers yeast along with a host of other ingredients that are commonly added to pet foods. But Dr. Aldrich IMO is not one I would put much faith in where his opinions are concerned. This is a man who believes ethoxyquin, BHA, menadione and by-products are safe to use in pet foods. http://www.petfoodindustry.com/ViewArticle.aspx?id=12892      http://www.petfoodindustry.com/ViewArticle.aspx?id=12646     http://www.petfoodindustry.com/ViewArticle.aspx?id=16414    He also speaks of using distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) in pet foods which have a tendency to concentrate any myocotoxins.  http://www.petfoodindustry.com/ViewArticle.aspx?id=22862.  A list of topics pertaining to nutrition that Dr Aldrich has written can be found here.  http://www.petfoodindustry.com/topics.aspx?Topic=Nutrition/Ingredients

[Bonkers]

    "A recently published study of herbal kelp products by UC Davis public health expert Marc Schenker concludes that some kelp supplements may cause inadvertent arsenic poisoning and health dangers for consumers, especially when overused. Schenker and two researchers evaluated nine typical herbal kelp products and found higher than acceptable arsenic levels in eight of them."  http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/welcome/features/20070509_kelp_arsenic/index.html   Other studies have shown that many herbal remedies are contaminated with potential toxicants including mercury and lead.

[kaffe]

I remember reading a post by Alice from the feline hyper-T yahoo group saying that it is the fluctuating or differing amounts of iodine in commercial cat foods that run havoc to with a cat's thyroid glands.  Some brands/ batches may have higher iodine amounts while others have lower.  The "high-low-high-low" throws the thyroid glands off.  I am unclear as to why kelp would be considered a goitrogen - I thought goitrogens were foods that discourage the production of T3 and hence T4 (thyroid hormones).  Maybe my definitin of "goitrogen" is off? 

Thanks for the heads up that kelp may contain arsenic... goodness!!!  I didn't know that! 

[Bonkers]

  Kaffe, You definition is not off.  Kelp is a source of iodine which is a trace mineral and is not normally considered a goitrogen.

[kaffe]

Thanks, Bonkers.    Personally, I use only very small amounts of kelp in cat food and more of dulse ever since Kaffe had that T4 spike early last year.  Remember how I was looking for an alternative mineral source?  I wonder how the arsenic gets into the kelp powder... and since it is in commercial kelp, I doubt not that it would also be found in dulse. 

[Bonkers]

  From what I have read, arsenic occurs naturally in some soils, and is a by-product of some agriculture and industrial activities. That is why seafood is the highest dietary source of arsenic . The plant life in the water absorbs the arsenic and is then transfered to the fish by them eating the plants.

[Bonkers]

   I suppose if one used organic kelp or dulse, arsenic contamination might be avoided.

[kaffe]

Thanks for the reply, Bonkers!  Now and again, I meet up with home-made raw feeders who don't want to use kelp at all in their mixes.  Instead, they use a multi-mineral supplement to get the essential minerals into their cats. 

[kaffe]

Oh, Lookie what I dug up from my notes:  A nutritional analysis for Kelp (I think this is from the US Nutrition Data Base... I'll try to check on that.  Anyway, if you're interested, here is the table:

Kelp's Nutritional Analysis

Macro Nutrient   Percent

Protein                      8.0
Fat                      0.3
Carbohydrate    39.0
Fiber                      7.6
Ash                    35.0
Moisture                   10.0

Amino Acds  (Proteins)
Arginine
Cystine
Histidine
Isoleucine
Leucine
Lysine
Methionine
Phenylalanine
Serine
Threonine
Tryptophan
Tyrosine
Valine


Vitamins

Carotene
Choline
Niacin
Riboflavin

Minerals

Kelp is 28% minerals by weight, and includes a large number of trace minerals. The minerals are naturally chelated to enhance the bio-availability. The primary minerals contained in Kelp are as follows:
·   Calcium
·   Copper
·   Iodine
·   Iron
·   Magnesium
·   Manganese
·   Phosphorus
·   Potassium
·   Sodium
·   Sulphur
·   Zinc
·   Plus Many Other Trace Minerals