By Brent Mayabb, DVM

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Over the past few decades, our knowledge of the dog and cat in the areas of nutrition and medicine has advanced exponentially. Pets now occupy a valuable place in the lives of our families. The level of care that we provide our pets is much higher, as is the knowledge base of veterinary medicine.

All of these factors have allowed pets to live longer, healthier lives. It's not uncommon for indoor cats or small breed dogs to live 16 years or more! As a consequence of this increased longevity, the pet population is experiencing higher levels of diseases associated with advanced age. Osteoarthritis, cancer, renal disease, and inflammatory diseases are just a few diseases that are increasing due to aging. A common element of all of these diseases is oxidative damage to the cells of the pet's body. By reducing this oxidative damage, we hope to further increase both longevity and quality of life for our companions.

What is oxidative damage? Oxidative damage is damage to the cells by free radicals, which are generated by normal cellular processes, environmental factors, disease, and genetic defects. The body has its own defense system against the oxidative free radicals. In order to be able to reduce oxidative stress, we must first be able to accurately measure it. Researchers at the Waltham Centre in Great Britain developed and standardized the "Comet Assay" for dogs and cats. This assay is sensitive enough to detect DNA damage at the single cell level! With an assay available to measure, the next task was to determine the effect of diet (ingested antioxidants) on DNA damage. By feeding two groups of age- and sex-matched adult dogs similar diets, with one group receiving antioxidants and the other receiving none, differences in oxidative damage to DNA were apparent as early as 2 months. The dogs fed the diet augmented with antioxidants showed less DNA damage. Similar results occurred when cats were studied. Although this may seem very intuitive, no one had proven antioxidants limit oxidative damage in dogs and cats. The scientists at Waltham have not only proven it, but have developed a method to quantitatively measure improvements.

After having developed a method to assess oxidative damage and proving that antioxidants reduced oxidative damage, we are now able to assess which antioxidant(s) have the best ability to prevent free radical damage. Here is a list of potent antioxidants used in Royal Canin diets. Each of these has potent effects individually, but in combination, they produce a synergistic ability to slow the effects of oxidative damage:

Vitamin E – a vitamin that protects the cell membrane from oxidative damage

Vitamin C – a vitamin exhibits effect in extracellular fluids and helps to regenerate vitamin E

Taurine – an amino acid that has an antioxidant role in muscle and immune cells

Lutein – a carotenoid that traps free radicals

Polyphenols – compounds extracted from green tea and grapes, these molecules protect DNA against destruction and mutation

At Royal Canin, it is not acceptable to feed to maintain and build the body. Our goal is to provide nutrition to augment health, prevent disease, and increase longevity in pets. Just as the state of medicine has advanced, so too has the state of nutrition. Our research into antioxidants is another way in which we seek to improve our pets' lives through nutrition.