Carrageenan, Guar Gum, Xanthan Gum, fruits, and vegetables - these are common things found in canned cat food. But are they really all harmful to our cats? It appears that some of these ingredients have been given a bad reputation by bloggers and posters like us....then opinions spread rapidly.
First off all, Shanoah visited the veterinary for the first time yesterday and I asked her a variety of questions regarding the above pet food ingredients.
She said that Guar Gums and Xanthan Gums shouldn't harm our pets, it's just a thickener. Studies have shown that both gums are shown to have no affects on test animals (dogs and rats), even at high doses. Both are also rated as perfectly safe food addictive. Xanthan gum was shown to have occasional soft stools in the animal subjects but that's it. I don't think there should be anything to worry about after hearing what a vet had to say and doing research.
Here are two interesting articles talking about Guar and Xanthan gums: http://chriskresser.com/harmful-or-harmless-guar-gum-locust-bean-gum-and-more
http://chriskresser.com/harmful-or-harmless-xanthan-gum
I know the above articles are mainly for human use but the animal studies are what counts.
Now let's move onto carrageenan. Quite possibly getting a bad reputation then it deserves. A lot of tests have been done with poligeenan (people easily confuse this with carrageenan, but it technically isn't!) which is a highly processed version of carrageenan and is more fatal. Poligeenan is shown to have harmful affects on animals such as cancer, ulceration, and inflammation in high concentrations. However, food grade carrageenan is shown to not cause cancer. That doesn't mean it's in the clear though - in some animal studies with rats it has caused intestinal damage, epithelial cell loss, increased intestinal permeability, and diarrhea. Tests were administered on other animals such as pigs and guinea pigs, some showing fewer affects with others showing no affects. This means that the affects of carrageenan are highly species dependent. But take note that these tests are high doses and not the amount we would see in canned food. My vet did say that carrageenan isn't harmful but this does make you think. Here's the in depth article: http://chriskresser.com/harmful-or-harmless-carrageenan
Fruits and vegetables are okay once in a while and won't harm our cats but it's not something long term or something that your cat should be eating all the time because you have to stress that cats are carnivores and need protein to survive. It's also known that fruits and veggies probably aren't on your cats menus while in the wild. But still don't freak out if there's fruits and veggies mixed in your cat's food!
Although I haven't done a lot of research on potatoes, I remember reading that these are actually more digestible and should have some nutritional upside, probably for it's protein, but again probably not on the menu in the wild.
I did forget to ask my vet about montmorillonite clay and haven't done much research on it yet but I'll probably post about it soon. This ingredient is most common in Nature's Variety canned foods. From what I've read so far it appears to have toxin removing elements which is a big upside.
-Aaron
First off all, Shanoah visited the veterinary for the first time yesterday and I asked her a variety of questions regarding the above pet food ingredients.
She said that Guar Gums and Xanthan Gums shouldn't harm our pets, it's just a thickener. Studies have shown that both gums are shown to have no affects on test animals (dogs and rats), even at high doses. Both are also rated as perfectly safe food addictive. Xanthan gum was shown to have occasional soft stools in the animal subjects but that's it. I don't think there should be anything to worry about after hearing what a vet had to say and doing research.
Here are two interesting articles talking about Guar and Xanthan gums: http://chriskresser.com/harmful-or-harmless-guar-gum-locust-bean-gum-and-more
http://chriskresser.com/harmful-or-harmless-xanthan-gum
I know the above articles are mainly for human use but the animal studies are what counts.
Now let's move onto carrageenan. Quite possibly getting a bad reputation then it deserves. A lot of tests have been done with poligeenan (people easily confuse this with carrageenan, but it technically isn't!) which is a highly processed version of carrageenan and is more fatal. Poligeenan is shown to have harmful affects on animals such as cancer, ulceration, and inflammation in high concentrations. However, food grade carrageenan is shown to not cause cancer. That doesn't mean it's in the clear though - in some animal studies with rats it has caused intestinal damage, epithelial cell loss, increased intestinal permeability, and diarrhea. Tests were administered on other animals such as pigs and guinea pigs, some showing fewer affects with others showing no affects. This means that the affects of carrageenan are highly species dependent. But take note that these tests are high doses and not the amount we would see in canned food. My vet did say that carrageenan isn't harmful but this does make you think. Here's the in depth article: http://chriskresser.com/harmful-or-harmless-carrageenan
Fruits and vegetables are okay once in a while and won't harm our cats but it's not something long term or something that your cat should be eating all the time because you have to stress that cats are carnivores and need protein to survive. It's also known that fruits and veggies probably aren't on your cats menus while in the wild. But still don't freak out if there's fruits and veggies mixed in your cat's food!
Although I haven't done a lot of research on potatoes, I remember reading that these are actually more digestible and should have some nutritional upside, probably for it's protein, but again probably not on the menu in the wild.
I did forget to ask my vet about montmorillonite clay and haven't done much research on it yet but I'll probably post about it soon. This ingredient is most common in Nature's Variety canned foods. From what I've read so far it appears to have toxin removing elements which is a big upside.
-Aaron
Last edited:
