The Balanced Blends take on DCM Findings
Posted by Balanced Blends Inc. on
Background
On June 27th, 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provided its third status report1 in its investigation into the potential connection between certain diets and cases of canine heart disease – specifically dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). In July 2018, the FDA first announced an investigation into the potential correlation between diets containing “peas, lentils, other legume seeds, or potatoes as main ingredients”2.
“To date, the FDA has not established why certain diets may be associated with the development of DCM in some dogs. In the meantime, and before making diet changes, pet owners should work directly with their veterinarians, who may consult with a board-certified veterinary nutritionist, to determine the most appropriate diet for their pet’s specific needs.”1
This update contains 524 reports submitted between January 2014 through April 2019 with the vast majority being submitted after the FDA’s first public alert in July 2018 – there are 515 canine reports and 9 feline reports.3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilated_cardiomyopathy#/media/File:Blausen_0165_Cardiomyopathy_Dilated.png
- Own work
Balanced Blends’ Take
Like you, we believe in keeping our furfams safe. For the sake of all of our furfams, any and all potential correlations between diet and health need to be carefully, impartially, and rigorously examined. Establishing true causality – not correlation, which is trivial – will take significant effort on the part of nutritional researchers and veterinarians.
The data released so far is just data. To date, the deep analysis required to establish correlation, much less causation, has not been completed. The root cause may end up being determined to be the packaging materials, some other unidentified unintended substance, or just a statistical anomaly being magnified due to our desire to see a correlation.
To help you understand why we feel the data is inconclusive, we invite you to read a great post on reddit from an unaffiliated PhD Biostatistician whose career is dedicated to problems like these: https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/comments/c6jah2/just_fyi_certain_dog_food_linked_to_serious_form/es96mk4/
About Balanced Blends:
Pets ARE Family – Carnivores Hunt – Choose to Feed Appropriately™
We believe in minimizing dietary stress with species appropriate diets that are built on a high-protein ancestral prey diet combined with the minimal amount of supplementation needed to exceed accepted nutritional requirements. Our Species Balanced™ recipes are 97.5% meat with only 2.5% nutrition supplements (Calcium, Phosphorus, etc.) and 0% digestible plant matter.
Species Balanced™ for Dogs
Species Balanced™ for Cats
References:
3: (6/2019), https://www.fda.gov/media/128303/download