NUTRITION BRIEF

Issue 2 KEY POINTS: Corn provides a source of high quality proteins, carbohydrates, and essential fatty acids in the diet of dogs and cats. Corn gluten meal is a more digestible ingredient than fresh beef or fresh poultry. Corn has important antioxidant qualities.

Corn is a High-Quality, Nutritious Pet Food Ingredient

One myth surrounding commercial pet foods concerns the digestibility and nutritional value of corn. A common misconception regarding corn is that it is a low-quality food ingredient, or ller, which contains minimal nutritional value. This Nutrition Brief will address the topic of corn as a valuable ingredient of pet food and show why this diverse grain is an excellent source of protein, carbohydrates, and essential fatty acids.

properly processed. Corn is a good example. Utilizing a wet milling process, the corn kernel is separated into starch, ber and protein components. The protein component becomes corn gluten meal, a source of highly digestible protein for dogs and cats.

Also a High-Quality Carbohydrate Source

Dietary carbohydrates play an important role in pet foods because they provide an energy source for the animal, thus allowing the proteins in the diet to be used to meet the animals amino acid requirements rather than its energy needs. Corn is a very useful ingredient in pet food because it is a high-quality source of carbohydrates as well as protein. Corn meal, a major source of carbohydrate in pet food, contains approximately 75% carbohydrates.

High-Quality Protein Source

Cells of the body utilize amino acids from multiple sources: Food proteins Single amino acids added to food Amino acids synthesized in the body Cells cannot distinguish whether amino acids from food proteins are provided by plants or animals. At Purina we complement highly digestible animal protein with a natural plant protein source like corn, to deliver all of the essential amino acids that pets need. Plant protein sources can provide highly digestible, high quality dietary protein for dogs and cats if they are
70 % 60 % 50 % 40 % 30 % 20 % 10 % 0
70% POULTRY BY-PRODUCT MEAL 67% CORN GLUTEN MEAL

14.5% CARBOHYDRATE

2.5% FAT

75.0% CARBOHYDRATE

67.0% PROTEIN

4.3% FAT 10.0% PROTEIN

55% MEAT AND BONE MEAL

PROTEIN CONCENTRATIONS IN COMMON PET FOOD INGREDIENTS (as fed)1,2

CORN MEAL CORN GLUTEN MEAL CARBOHYDRATE CONCENTRATION IN CORN MEAL VS. CORN GLUTEN MEAL2

NUTRITION BRIEF
Issue 2

Highly Digestible
Appropriate nutrient levels are very important in a balanced diet. Of equal importance is the digestibility of the nutrients, as this important rst step can be the ratelimiting factor in the total bioavailability of the food. 3, 4
DIGESTIBILITY OF KEY INGREDIENTS (DRY MATTER) Corn Gluten Meal Beef Meat and Bone Meal Poultry By-Product Meal Fresh Beef Fresh Poultry 87.5% 75.4% 67.3% 76.3% 77.3%

Essential Fatty Acids

Corn is the only grain commonly used in pet food that contains linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid required by both dogs and cats for healthy skin and hair.

Antioxidant Activity
Antioxidants in the diet help to reduce cell damage in animals and people. Vitamin E is a major fat-soluble antioxidant, and corn oil is a major source of vitamin E. In a human study conducted by the Institute of Nutritional Science, University of Vienna, Austria, a diet containing corn oil was found to reduce DNA damage more effectively than a diet containing an olive/sunower oil combination. 6 It is commonly thought that processed ingredients have a lower nutritional value than fresh ingredients. However, a study conducted by Cornell University found that cooking corn at 150 degrees Celsius for 50 minutes actually increased its antioxidant levels by as much as 53%. 7

Antigenicity of Corn
Another common misconception regarding the use of corn in pet food is that corn is highly antigenic and will cause food allergies. In fact, a study in Veterinary Dermatology looked at the frequency with which specic food ingredients caused a reappearance of pruritis during a food elimination trial, and corn had the lowest percentage of frequency cited. 5 (Some dogs reacted to more than one ingredient.)
70 % 60 % 50 % 40 % 30 % 20 %
15% 14% CORN 30% 30% 25% 25% 70%

High-Quality Corn
The quality of corn in pet foods can vary greatly. There are ve grades of corn quality according to the USDA; grades 1 and 2 are traditionally utilized for human food products. 8 Nestl Purina only selects grades 1 or 2 corn for all of its pet foods.

10 %
BEEF WHEAT

COWS MILK

SOYBEAN

CHICKEN MEAT

CHICKEN EGGS

FREQUENCY OF SPECIFIC FOOD INGREDIENTS CAUSING PRURITIS IN FOOD-ALLERGIC DOGS5

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Small Animal Clinical Nutrition, 4th ed., p. 141. Feed Commodity Bulletin. Oklahoma State University, Stillwater Murray, et al. Raw and Rendered Animal By-Products as Ingredients in Dog Diets. Journal of Nutrition, Vol 128, No. 12, Dec. 1998: pp. 2812S-2815S. Department of Agricultural Food and Nutritional Science. University of Alberta, Edmonton. Jeffers, J.G. Results of Dietary Provocation in Dogs with Food Hypersensitivity. Veterinary Dermatology, Vol. 5, No. 3, 1994. Elmadfa, I.; Park, E. Impact of Diets with Corn Oil or Olive/Sunflower Oils on DNA Damage in Healthy Young Men. European Journal of Nutrition, Vol 38 No 3, Dec. 1999: pp. 286-92. 7. Dewanto, V.; Wu, X.; Liu, R. H. Processed Sweet Corn Has Higher Antioxidant Activity. Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, Vol 50 No 17, 2002, pp. 4959-4964. 8. USDA Nutrient Webpage: http://www.rahul.net/cgi-bin/fatfree/usda/usda.cgi

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