• Dried avocado meal, a novel fiber source

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Tue Mar 29 22:30:40 2022
    Dried avocado meal, a novel fiber source to be added to commercial dog
    food

    Date:
    March 29, 2022
    Source:
    University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and
    Environmental Sciences
    Summary:
    Thanks to avocados' rise to superfood stardom, there are now more
    avocado-derived products in the supply chain than ever. In a unique
    study, researchers looked at the possibility of using avocado meal
    -- the ground, dried, and defatted pulp, seed, and skin left over
    after avocado oil processing -- as a fiber source in dry dog food.



    FULL STORY ==========================================================================
    When avocados were first recognized as a nutrient-dense superfood for
    humans, consumption skyrocketed. Today, consumers buy and eat the fresh
    fruit (hello, avocado toast), purchase pre-packaged guacamole, cook with avocado oil, and more.


    ==========================================================================
    The trend means there are now more avocado-derived products in the supply
    chain than ever. In a unique study, University of Illinois researchers
    looked at the possibility of using avocado meal -- the ground, dried,
    and defatted pulp, seed, and skin left over after avocado oil processing
    -- as a fiber source in dry dog food.

    Wait, aren't avocados toxic to dogs? A simple Google search turns up
    scads of sources warning against the potentially harmful effects of
    avocados for pets, placing blame on a compound called persin in the
    fruit. But Maria Cattai de Godoy, who led the project, says the claims
    about avocado toxicity are overblown. As for avocado meal, Godoy couldn't
    find detectable levels of persin in the product. And best of all? Avocado
    meal is also palatable and a functional fiber source in canine nutrition.

    "Being from Brazil, avocados grow in our backyards. They fall on the
    ground, and if dogs get hold of them, they eat them. Just like they do
    with mangoes, bananas, or any other fruits that grow natively in our
    country. I'd never heard of a dog dying from eating an avocado, so I was
    really curious why they were considered toxic here," says Cattai de Godoy, associate professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at U of I.

    "When you look at the literature for avocado toxicity, all that exists
    are a few case studies. Dogs reported to have a fondness for avocado
    showed some signs of toxicity, but the case reports couldn't prove
    avocados caused those symptoms. There are a lot of uncontrolled factors
    in these cases." When she looked into it, Cattai de Godoy couldn't
    find direct evidence showing cause and effect of persin toxicity in
    dogs. Few studies detailed where persin was most concentrated in the
    avocado plants and fruits, and not a single study explored whether it
    was found in avocado meal.



    ==========================================================================
    It was time for some answers.

    Cattai de Godoy teamed up with David Sarlah, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at U of I. They were able to look more closely
    at the chemical structure of persin, and realized why they couldn't find
    it in the dried, processed meal.

    "Persin is structurally similar to a polyunsaturated fatty acid, meaning
    there are a lot of double bonds," Cattai de Godoy says. "They're not very stable; heat and light can make them break down. Processing is very likely breaking down persin, which is probably why we cannot see it in the meal.

    "In fact, the concentration was so small in the avocado meal that it was
    out of our standard curve linear range, meaning it was below detection
    level. We observed, however, detectable amounts of persin in the raw
    fruit, including the peel, pulp, and pit." After they determined persin
    was undetectable in avocado meal, the researchers fed it to beagles as one
    of three fiber sources in their diets: avocado meal, or industry standards
    beet pulp or cellulose. They watched the animals closely for any signs of toxicity or distress, but found none during the two-week feeding trials.



    ========================================================================== Cellulose is an insoluble fiber used to create fecal bulk. Beet pulp,
    which Cattai de Godoy refers to as the gold-standard fiber in pet foods,
    is a mix of soluble and insoluble fiber that helps feed good gut bacteria
    while promoting fecal bulk.

    As a fiber source, avocado meal fell right in between cellulose and beet
    pulp, depending on the metrics the researchers studied. For example,
    energy intake was similar for all three diets, and avocado meal tied with
    other fiber sources for digestibility of fat and organic matter. Dogs
    who ate the avocado meal diet had similar fiber digestibility and fecal butyrate concentration, an energy source for microbial cells in the gut,
    to dogs who ate the beet pulp diet.

    "High fiber diets are not always palatable for pets, but that is not
    what we saw. The dogs consumed enough food to meet or exceed their
    energy requirements.

    The high inclusion of avocado meal [about 19%] was acceptable to them,"
    Cattai de Godoy says.

    The researchers note they only tested one source of avocado meal. Persin
    levels vary across avocado cultivars and processing practices haven't
    been standardized across the industry, so it will be important to test
    for persin in each source of avocado meal. But Cattai de Godoy thinks
    this first study shows the potential of avocado meal for dogs.

    "If you have a tool nobody has looked at and it's economical and highly abundant, why not use it? From what we can tell, it seems to be a safe ingredient. We don't see a signal for persin in avocado meal, and there
    is not really a robust literature pointing to persin as a true toxin for
    dogs or cats" she says. "I certainly think there's still work to be done
    in order to say there are no concerns, especially if we were giving the
    fresh fruit. But according to our study, I think avocado meal is a safe
    bet and can be used effectively as a sole source of dietary fiber or in
    fiber blends." Funding was provided by the USDA National Institute of
    Food and Agriculture.


    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Illinois_College_of_Agricultural,_Consumer and_Environmental_Sciences. Original written by Lauren Quinn. Note:
    Content may be edited for style and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Amanda N Dainton, Fei He, Tanner W Bingham, David Sarlah, Katelyn B
    Detweiler, Heather J Mangian, Maria Regina Cattai de
    Godoy. Nutritional and physico-chemical implications of avocado meal
    as a novel dietary fiber source in an extruded canine diet. Journal
    of Animal Science, 2022; 100 (2) DOI: 10.1093/jas/skac026 ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220329114703.htm

    --- up 4 weeks, 1 day, 10 hours, 50 minutes
    * Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)