Antioxidants have a way of helping your dog’s body to cope with the terrible environmental pollution that surrounds them. In addition to the antioxidants their bodies produce, nature provides them with hundreds of antioxidants (phytochemicals) in the foods they eat. Phytochemicals are naturally occurring compounds such as enzymes, pigments, and hormones that plants create for their own protection and survival. They give plants their color, odor, and taste. Some, like beta-carotene, are well known, but 90 percent of phytochemicals are still unidentified. Beta-carotene is the carotenoid that gives carrots their orange color, but there may be as many as 600 different carotenoids in foods.
Your dog’s daily consumption of fruits and vegetables provides them with many of the beneficial phytochemicals and antioxidants. However, because we do not know the quality of the soils from which our commercial or organic fruits and vegetables are grown, we cannot guarantee that our dogs are totally protected from free radical damage. This is why it is so important to supplement their diet with antioxidant enzymes and vitamins.
Antioxidant Vitamins are Some of the Most Important Supplements for Reversing Colitis:
Vitamin C and other antioxidants such as vitamins E, A, and D may be able to prevent environmental damage from the activity of free radicals. Antioxidants help with proper essential fatty acid metabolism. Antioxidants beta carotene, and vitamins C and E are very important to protect the digestive system from free radical damage (Hudson, p.148).
Why Whole Foods are the Best Antioxidant Supplements:
Most people give their dogs single antioxidant vitamins, such as Vitamins C, E, and Beta Carotene. You are far better off using whole-food antioxidants to nourish and protect your dog’s digestive system because whole-food antioxidants contain two types of antioxidants - the nutrients and their natural enzymes (man-made supplements do not).
The antioxidant nutrients (such as vitamins A, C, and E) are derived from the diet and have their primary effect while circulating in the blood outside of the cells. The antioxidant enzyme system (superoxide dismutase "SOD", catalase, and others found naturally in foods) is produced by the body inside and outside of the cells. This gives the antioxidant enzyme system a much greater advantage in controlling free radicals because free radical production occurs primarily inside the cell.
One of the best antioxidants on the market today is a supplement made from organically grown wheat sprouts, wildcrafted microalgae, and red sea algae. Three powerful foods are in this one supplement. This supplement is a whole-food full spectrum antioxidant.
The wheat sprouts, wildcrafted microalgae, and red sea algae whole food antioxidant supplement is the most effective first line of defense against free radicals. It supplies the digestive system with antioxidant nutrients AND natural enzymes. The effectiveness of this product has been proven through 10 years of animal studies at Indiana State University and Wilkes University (contact me if you would like a copy of this research).
Being a whole food supplement, the wheat sprouts and algae not only contain the highest amount of antioxidant enzyme activity available today in any antioxidant supplement, but also contain every single co-enzyme factor naturally occurring within the sprouts and algae. This is very important, for as with any nutrient, enzymes do not work alone. The overall synergistic effect of having all of the enzymes together with vitamins and minerals instead of being isolated, as in many man-made antioxidant supplements, is a big reason why the wheat sprouts and algae supplement is able to deliver one million units of total antioxidant enzyme activity!
Other Antioxidants to Consider in Your Dog’s Nutritional Supplementation Program:
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). In any digestive system healing process, CoQ10 is an essential supplement because it assists the gut's cells in converting nutrients into energy. This antioxidant supplement has the ability to manipulate oxygen. It can add or take away oxygen for a given biochemical combination, moving oxygen into or out of the mitochondria. It can actually increase oxygen levels when necessary, and reduce them if they threaten to reach toxic levels. This is part of its role as an antioxidant.
This antioxidant supplement has a remarkable combination of organic flaxseed oil providing a rich source of Omega-3 essential fatty acids, wildcrafted microalgae, mechanically extracted carotenoids from red beta algae, fennel, rosemary, cinnamon, and ginger.
A Summary of the Antioxidant Supplements You Need to Protect Your Dog’s Digestive System:
• Assortment of Sprouts - 90 vegetarian capsules - $54.90
• Vitamin D mixed with whole foods - 60 vegetarian capsules - $67.50
(It is recommended that you start your dog with one antioxidant at a time).
I will email you a schedule to follow as you start giving these supplements to your dog.
Contact me with your questions and/or when you are ready to get started on these powerful supplements.
Other Supplements Needed for Supporting Your Dog’s Digestive System: