Dog and Kennel Magazine has published a special report on nutrigenomics — foods designed to influence the way genetic tendencies express in dogs’ bodies.
The report says that the most successful application of this idea, so far, is in treating arthritis (partly because researchers have made solid progress in understanding the genetics of arthritis in dogs). By tweaking the levels of certain proteins and fats in their products, dog food manufacturers believe they can influence biochemical activity at the cellular level, cutting short the progression of the disease.
A twist on the story is that although these foods contain only natural ingredients — no drugs, nothing from a test tube — they are only available, right now, through veterinarians, as explained here by Dan Carey, DVM, “a trained veterinarian who now works as a scientist at Iams,” and Dr. Dru Forrester, scientific spokesperson for Hills Pet Nutrition:
“We want veterinarians to confirm that your dog has the body type and size so he’ll benefit from this diet.” Even more, Carey says, “We want to encourage people to work with veterinarians so they continue to get good general advice about their dog’s health.” Forrester also wants people to go through a veterinarian to prevent the rise of inferior imitations. “Everything in these foods is the result of detailed work. We don’s want to see nutrigenomic foods being copied and sold in grocery stores, where there are fewer controls on the contents.”
Translation: we plan to charge an arm and a leg for this stuff, and we don’t want people to get the idea that they can mix it up more cheaply in their own kitchens.
The article also asks why we can’t do something similar for people.
The answer is that we can exert more control over our dogs’ diets — and dogs are more willing to eat uniform (i.e. boring) food: “For nutrigenomics to work, you must eat the specific foods that have been developed for you, and do it faithfully.”
Faithfully as a dog, must be :-)
That said, the piece predicts this work will influence trends in human nutritional science, which is a good thing.
