Why Food is Better Than Pellets

By
Alicia McWatters, Ph.D., C.N.C.

"Provide complete, balanced nutrition to all of your feathered friends by serving a pelleted bird feed." This is what many of the advertisements are saying. We are told that all the essential nutrients our birds will ever need are to be found in a bag or canister and by simply pouring these crunchy morsels into our birds' feed bowl we have done our job as good bird owners. We are happy because we think we have just provided our pet bird with 100% nutrition. Sadly, we have been deceived.

These days, many birds have been weaned onto a pelleted feed and so they think that these dry fabricated diets are a natural food for them. Sadly, they have been deceived. These diets consist of a few fractionated grains and seeds, followed by a very long list of synthetic enrichment nutrients which enables these diets to provide the minimum levels of nutrients to maintain health for some birds.

All of the known vitamins and minerals might be there in these diets, but it doesn't mean they're doing our birds much good or even any good. Commercial feed makers would like you to believe that our birds' bodies can't tell the difference between synthetic nutrients and nutrients in food. The reasoning goes something like this - "Synthetic vitamins are manufactured to produce the same chemicals that a vitamin is made of, so our birds' bodies can't tell the difference." Hurray for technology! We've outdone Mother Nature. We are also told – "Don't feed too many fresh foods like fruits and vegetables, they are not nearly as healthy as a perfectly balanced pelleted feed and may upset its delicate balance." With my busy schedule, believe me, I wish this were true. But it isn't. Again, we have been deceived.

Synthetic nutrients are not the same as those from foods, and our birds' bodies can tell the difference. Examples: Vitamin C is known as a chemical called ascorbic acid. But, when Dr. Szent-Gyorgyi first isolated ascorbic acid as a cure for scurvy, an interesting thing occurred; isolated ascorbic acid did not completely cure scurvy, only lessened its effects. Later when vitamin C in the crude (raw) form from peppers was used it cured scurvy completely. What was the difference? The difference was that ascorbic acid in food is always found along with a class of compounds called bioflavonoids, which scientists have confirmed are necessary to completely cure scurvy.

Bioflavonoids do more than just prevent scurvy. They are a phytochemical that has important biological functions. They are antioxidant compounds that protect our birds from free radical damage and cancer. These natural substances also have anti- inflammatory and anti-allergenic properties that may help arthritic conditions, as well as boost immunity.

There are also needed trace element-containing enzymes found with vitamin C in food. One of these is ascorbate oxidase, a copper containing enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of ascorbic acid at a physiological pH that makes ascorbic acid effective in the body as an antioxidant. Another important enzyme is tyrosinase, which supplies organic copper needed in the body for lymphocyte function and other purposes. There are other co-nutrients found with vitamin C and some we don't even know about yet.

These co-nutrients are required to make vitamin C an effective protective agent against disease. Ascorbic acid alone has limited value in the body. Ascorbic acid is just one component out of a number of nutrients that are found together in food and are collectively known as vitamin C. They work together synergistically.

What applies to vitamin C applies to all vitamins. Vitamins in nature are never isolated in pure crystalline states. They are always found in combination with proteins, trace element-containing enzymes, and other substances in a complex of nutrients.

Nature put all of those nutrients together in food for a very good reason – they are all needed to work together to protect us from disease. There is a biological difference between natural and synthetic sources of vitamins.

Birds and vitamin C -- Since birds are known to synthesize vitamin C in sufficient amounts, many feel it is not necessary in their diet. We have noticed at times of stress, and that includes at breeding times, our birds consume larger amounts of foods containing this vitamin, thus, we feel it to be especially useful at these times. Also, a bird may have a dysfunction of the enzyme which produces vitamin C, therefore individual requirements may vary. This vitamin is known to prevent C. albicans, viral and various bacterial infections. Some factors which deplete vitamin C from the body are stress, air pollution, cortisone, antihistamines, and tetracyclines. A deficiency may cause anemia, poor digestion, decrease resistance to infections, stress, bone and joint disorders, and dry skin and feathers. Vitamin C is found in citrus fruits, berries, green leafy vegetables, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, garlic and most fresh uncooked fruits and vegetables. Vitamin C therapy may help with allergies, high cholesterol, sinusitis, diabetes, gout, heart disease, cataracts, gout, cancer prevention, and kidney disorders.

Vitamin C is a also a natural anti-inflammatory, antihistamine, antioxidant, and anti-stress nutrient. It assists in collagen production, iron absorption, red blood cell formation, proper function of the adrenal glands, burn and wound healing, and boosts immune system function. The absorption of iron and calcium are increased by adequate intake of vitamin C. Foods high in vitamin C work as antioxidants which help free the body of the daily toxins (unavoidable in some cases) which are in our air, water, some foods, radiation, toxic metals, stress, and other harmful environmental conditions (known as "free radicals") which cause damage to our birds' health.

Bioflavonoids are nutrients, which are not synthesized by the body and must be obtained in the diet. There are many different bioflavonoids, including hesperidin, quercetin, rutin and they are sometimes referred to as vitamin P. Bioflavonoids possess antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-allergenic and often occur with vitamin C in fruits and vegetables as they work in conjunction with vitamin C to enhance its absorption. Bioflavonoids are found in the pulp and white rind just beneath the peel of citrus fruits, along with cherries, blackberries, blueberries, apricots, grapes, peppers, soybeans, garlic, and buckwheat. Bioflavonoids may be helpful for reducing pain, healing bruises, protecting the structure of the capillaries, and have been known to possess antibacterial properties, and aid in the prevention of cataracts and cancer.

In the case of vitamin E (tocopherol), the dextro form occurs in nature in foods such as nuts, seeds, grains, legumes, and vegetables and is the form that is highly usable and biologically active in the body. Synthetic vitamin E is found in the levo form of tocopherol (listed as dl-tocopherol) and is only partially usable in the body, meaning that the unusable portion is eliminated.

An interesting phenomenon is sometimes seen in clinical work. Treatments with high doses of synthetic vitamins, such as synthetic ascorbic acid and B-1 (thiamine), will cause adverse reactions while naturally derived vitamins at the same dose cause no harm. The body's biological response to synthetic vitamins can be very different from its response to the natural vitamin containing all the synergists. That is because vitamins in the chemically isolated form often don't function as vitamins but more like drugs. It is the abnormally high levels that can induce toxicity similar to the way a drug can.

One of the biggest myths today concerning food is that we can make food healthy by enriching or fortifying it with synthetic vitamins, minerals, amino acids and so forth after the natural nutrients have been removed. Grains lose an average of 75% or more of their vitamin and mineral content after the germ and bran are removed in the processing and refining procedures. Grains also lose their vitamin B6, vitamin E, magnesium, copper, zinc, manganese and chromium during processing. The germ and bran content are the most nutritious parts of grains and they are thrown away. Of the thirty known nutrients removed, usually only around four are added back synthetically. These synthetic nutrients are not the same as the nutrients nature produces and, in some cases, may be virtually useless to our birds' bodies. We are left with a fractionated feed; an inferior product.

The way our birds are supposed to get their nutrients is in the form nature provides... whole fruits, vegetables, grains and so forth. Living food provides minerals in organic form, biologically combined with special proteins (enzymes and amino acids) that allow the body to utilize them properly.

Beyond proper utilization, many trace minerals are toxic, if our birds try to eat them in inorganic form. Zinc can be toxic as an inorganic chemical, such as from zinc-coated toy parts, galvanized hardware cloth, or supplemental zinc (i.e., zinc oxide), but is a necessary and very important nutrient in food. Elemental copper is considered a heavy metal; if a bird absorbs too much, it can be poisoned. Iodine can be poisonous in its elemental form, but is essential in food.

It is quite remarkable how nature converts something that's toxic to our birds in the inorganic form to a safe organic form - nutrients in food. Your bird can never be harmed from the trace minerals in food because nature balances the elements out and gives them to our birds in the form their bodies can safely use.

In the case of selenium, the organic form is selenoamino acids, such as L- selenomethionine. In this form, it is assimilated into the tissues readily and is useful as an antioxidant and is easily tolerated at levels where inorganic forms would show toxicity. Inorganic selenium compounds such as sodium selenite, while much better than elemental selenium, become toxic in much smaller amounts than with selenoamino acids and are assimilated into the tissues poorly.

The same holds true for other inorganic compounds of minerals. They include calcium carbonate as a calcium source and ferrous sulfate as an iron source. They are much easier to make than organic forms and cost less. None of the inorganic forms have the biological activity of the organic forms found in food. There is a major difference between organic minerals found in living plants and the inorganic minerals found in rocks.

I think of pellets as a supplement rather than a food: similar to taking a multi-vitamin/mineral pill. Multi-supplements always omit nutrients that are known to be essential, and nutrients, which are not yet known. Look at the form in which the nutrients in pellets occur. Most use inorganic minerals and synthetic vitamins that have limited value in the body. Also, many of these nutrients don't break down in a period of time that enable our birds to absorb the vitamins and minerals they are consuming in these diets. So they pass right through the system unabsorbed and as a result, a deficiency may occur. Because these diets are concentrated, it's very easy to get far more of certain nutrients then is actually required by the body. And as with any supplement, you never know how much your bird really needs as each bird is biochemically and genetically unique, therefore, their dietary requirements will vary.

Finally, how do you know your bird is getting what it says on the label of a fabricated feed. The nutrients in these products are subject to the same losses as they are in food. If vitamins have been sitting around at room temperature for a while since manufacture, they can decompose into unusable and even toxic forms.

The end result of all of this is that your bird's body may have a big job of eliminating the vitamins and minerals it doesn't need, because it's getting excessive amounts or in a form it can't utilize, and this elimination involves enzymes. While it is true that vitamins and minerals are coenzymes, they are not the enzyme itself, and the enzymes will be helped very little by the excess or unusable forms of vitamins and minerals. The excess or unusable forms of vitamins and minerals act in the body like drugs and have to be expelled continuously. This constant use of the body's enzymes for the elimination of unneeded or unusable nutrients taxes the body's enzyme system. Anything that depletes your body of enzymes is detrimental to good health.

It's one thing if one chooses to feed a pelleted diet because they simply don't want to take the time to feed a well-balanced fresh food diet and acknowledges that it is inferior to a fresh diet; but quite another when one feeds a pelleted diet because they think it is superior to a varied fresh diet. It is not.

It is my belief that feeding a daily ration of a fabricated synthetic feed does not support optimum health for our birds. If you feed a manufactured diet, just remember that it is no substitute for whole natural foods.

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