Dog Food with Prebiotics, Probiotics, and Postbiotics
· by Glendon Lloyd Dip.Canine.Nutrition Dip.Dog.Nutrigenomics
Prebiotic, Probiotic and Postbiotic Dog Food – Ultimate Health
Summary
This guide explores the benefits of including prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics in dog food. It explains how probiotics, such as Bacillus subtilis, balance gut bacteria, support digestion, and boost the immune system. Prebiotics, non-digestible food ingredients, feed beneficial gut bacteria and enhance the effectiveness of probiotics, supporting gut health through the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs).
Postbiotics, bioactive compounds produced during fermentation, offer significant health benefits by modulating immune function, reducing inflammation, and supporting metabolic health. Combining prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics in dog food creates a synergistic effect, promoting a healthy gut microbiome, enhanced immune function, reduced inflammation, and improved digestive, skin, and joint health.
Bonza’s plant-based, vegan dog food is highlighted for its formulation, which includes these essential components, providing a complete and balanced diet providing the ultimate full body health support for dogs.
What are Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Postbiotics in Dog Food?
What are Probiotics?
Probiotics – Promoting Healthy Gut and Microbiome in Dogs
Probiotics are live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, provide health benefits to the host. For dogs, probiotics can enhance gut health by balancing the gut microbiota, which is crucial for overall health. The gut-brain axis, a connection between the gut and the brain, plays a significant role in influencing immune health and managing chronic conditions like IBD, epilepsy, and certain cancers.
Scientists refer to the gut as the “second brain” due to its enteric nervous system (ENS), which contains over 100 million nerve cells lining the gastrointestinal tract. This system affects digestion, mood, and overall health. Enhancing gut health through probiotics can have profound health benefits for dogs.
Probiotics are found in fermented foods, dietary supplements, and certain dog foods. They are often used to treat inflammatory digestive diseases, stress-related stomach disorders, and diarrhoea. They also help manage gut disorders resulting from diet changes or antibiotic treatments.
Bonza, a plant-based, vegan dog food, uses Bacillus subtilis, a soil-based probiotic known for its safety and efficacy, as demonstrated in various studies. This probiotic helps improve gut health by increasing bacterial diversity, enhancing faecal quality, and supporting overall digestive health.
The Science Behind Bacillus subtilis
Bacillus subtilis C-3102, marketed as Calsporin®, is a spore-forming bacterium that has been extensively researched for its benefits to both human and animal health. Approved for use in dog food in 2017 by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Bacillus subtilis has demonstrated its ability to support faecal and coat quality, enhance gut bacterial diversity, improve faecal consistency and firmness, and reduce faecal odour and ammonia.
A 2016 study by Papp et al. (1) showed that dog food supplemented with Bacillus subtilis C-3102 optimally supported faecal and coat quality. Further research published in 2020 in Animal Feed Science and Technology (2) found that dietary supplementation with this probiotic increased gut bacterial diversity and improved the abundance of beneficial bacteria, enhancing overall gut health.
Additionally, a 2019 study published by Cambridge University Press (3) revealed that dog food supplemented with Calsporin® improved faecal quality, enhanced fat and carbohydrate digestibility, and contributed to gut health by reducing gut ammonia and increasing beneficial short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) content.
One of the critical benefits of Bacillus subtilis is its heat stability. Unlike many probiotics that degrade at high temperatures, Calsporin® can withstand temperatures up to 90°C and remains viable for more than one year in pet food. Bonza’s processing method, which uses cold extrusion at temperatures of 70°C or less, helps preserve the integrity and efficacy of this probiotic, ensuring optimal benefits for your dog’s digestive health and microbiome.
What are Prebiotics?
Prebiotics – Pathway to a Healthy Gut and Digestion
Prebiotics are non-digestible food ingredients that stimulate the growth and activity of beneficial bacteria in the gut. They come from certain types of carbohydrates (mostly fibre) that dogs cannot digest, serving as food for probiotics. This synergy between prebiotics and probiotics supports a healthy gut, good digestion, and overall immune health.
Prebiotics can be found in plant-based foods such as legumes, oats, bananas, berries, Jerusalem artichokes, chicory root, asparagus, and dandelion greens. They help produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), like butyrate, which have anti-inflammatory effects and support a strong gut barrier.
Bonza dog food includes a variety of prebiotic fibres to promote a healthy gut microbiome, supporting your dog’s overall health.
The Role of Prebiotics in Gut Health
Prebiotics work by reaching the gut intact and providing a feeding ground for probiotics, the beneficial bacteria. Without prebiotics, probiotics are not as effective. This is why many supplements for both humans and dogs are often combination supplements, known as synbiotics.
The gut bacteria, collectively referred to as the gut flora or gut microbiota, perform many essential functions in the body. The beneficial bacteria in your dog’s digestive tract help protect them from harmful bacteria and fungi. They also send signals to their immune system and help regulate inflammation.
Additionally, some of your dog’s gut bacteria form vitamin K and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). SCFAs are the main nutrient source for the cells lining the colon. They promote a strong gut barrier that helps keep out harmful substances, viruses, and bacteria. This reduces inflammation and may lower the risk of cancer.
Prebiotics are found in various plant-based foods, including:
One of the critical roles of prebiotics is to support the production of SCFAs like butyrate. Butyrate has been extensively studied for its anti-inflammatory effects in the colon. It may also influence gene expression, block the growth of cancerous cells, and help provide fuel to healthy cells so they can grow and divide normally.
What are Postbiotics?
Postbiotics – Enhancing Dog Health with Bioactive Compounds
Postbiotics are bioactive compounds produced by probiotics during fermentation processes. Unlike probiotics, which are live microorganisms, postbiotics are the metabolic by-products or end products of these microbes. These compounds include short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), peptides, polysaccharides, cell wall fragments, and other metabolites. Postbiotics are non-living, but they can have significant health benefits by modulating various biological processes in the host.
Postbiotics include:
Short-Chain Fatty Acids (SCFAs): Such as acetate, propionate, and butyrate, these acids play crucial roles in maintaining gut health, reducing inflammation, and providing energy to colon cells.
Peptides: Small chains of amino acids with antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and immune-modulating effects.
Exopolysaccharides: Complex carbohydrates that enhance immune function and gut health.
Lactate: Produced by lactic acid bacteria, lactate helps regulate pH levels in the gut.
Bacterial Lysates: Fragments of bacterial cell walls that stimulate the immune system.
Postbiotics, like the revolutionary TruPet postbiotic product, support gut health, enhance immune function, reduce inflammation, and improve metabolic processes, making them a valuable addition to dog food.
Benefits of Postbiotics in Dog Food
Postbiotics provide numerous health benefits, including:
Enhanced Gut Health: Postbiotics strengthen the gut barrier, reduce gastrointestinal disorders, and support overall digestive health.
Immune Function Support: They modulate the immune system, increasing resistance to infections and reducing immune-related conditions.
Anti-Inflammatory Effects: Postbiotics directly reduce chronic inflammation, benefiting conditions like arthritis and allergies.
Skin and Coat Health: Postbiotics provide anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating effects, leading to healthier skin and a shinier coat.
Weight Management: Postbiotics improve metabolic health and energy production, supporting weight management.
Enhanced Synergistic Benefits of Prebiotics, Probiotics, and Postbiotics
The Power of the Triad: Prebiotics, Probiotics, and Postbiotics
Incorporating a blend of prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics into dog food offers enhanced synergistic benefits that surpass the individual effects of each component. This combination creates a holistic approach to improving and maintaining optimal health in dogs.
Enhanced Digestive Health:
Prebiotics feed beneficial bacteria, promoting their growth.
Probiotics maintain a balanced gut microbiome, improving digestion and nutrient absorption.
Postbiotics strengthen the gut barrier, reduce gastrointestinal disorders, and support overall digestive health.
Improved Immune Function:
Prebiotics promote the growth of immune-boosting probiotics.
Probiotics enhance the immune system by producing bioactive compounds and stimulating immune responses.
Postbiotics modulate the immune system, increasing resistance to infections and reducing immune-related conditions.
Reduced Inflammation:
Prebiotics support the production of anti-inflammatory SCFAs by probiotics.
Probiotics produce postbiotics with anti-inflammatory properties.
Postbiotics directly reduce chronic inflammation, benefiting conditions like arthritis and allergies.
Prebiotics promote the growth of beneficial bacteria that produce anti-inflammatory compounds.
Probiotics enhance gut health and immune function, reducing inflammation.
Postbiotics directly reduce inflammation in joints, improving mobility and joint function.
Conclusion
The inclusion of prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics in dog food provides a comprehensive and synergistic approach to enhancing overall health. This combination supports a balanced gut microbiome, strengthens the immune system, reduces inflammation, and promotes optimal digestive, skin, and joint health. By understanding and leveraging the benefits of these components, pet owners can ensure their dogs live long, healthy, and vibrant lives.
Bonza’s 100% plant-based, vegan dog food is formulated to include these essential components, offering a complete and balanced diet for your dog’s best health.
Our Superfoods and Ancient Grains formula also include MOS (Mannan-oligosaccharides) and FOS (Fructo-oligosaccharides) which work with the prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics to deliver the very best support for your dogs microbiome and in turn their best health.
Bonza is the only plant-based prebiotic, probiotic, postbiotic dog food
About Glendon Lloyd Dip.Canine.Nutrition Dip.Dog.Nutrigenomics
I have had dogs from the day I was born. Much to my Mum's amusement, my Dad bought home Zetta, a beautiful corgi puppy on the day, as his contribution to our new family!
Fast forward to 2018 and Catherine, my wife, and one of our dogs Poppy, were both diagnosed and treated for cancer within months of each other
Diet and its impact on health, cancer particularly, led me down a rabbit hole of discovery.
I consumed information voraciously - on our diets, our dogs' diets and the impact these have not just on health but also the health of our increasingly fragile planet.
I was humbled by the time and expertise given so freely by doctors and vets, canine nutritionists and scientists, academics and agronomists. The more I learned the more I understood there had to be a better way to improve not just our health but also our dogs and the planet's.
The result of my trip down that rabbit hole is Bonza, a plant-based dog food that elevates our dogs' diet beyond simple nutrition to a diet that inspires a healthier everyday life for our dogs and the planet.
I am continually researching the nutritional impact our dogs' diets have on their health and wellbeing and the ingredients and nutrients we should include in, and exclude from, their food to deliver longer, healthier lives.
I am delighted that my trip down the rabbit hole has led to me completing a Diploma in Canine Nutrigenomics and a Diploma in Canine Nutrition being awarded a Distinction for both my coursework and theses!
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