03rd May 2008
Our ingredient choices
The USDA certified organic, human-grade, unrefined whole food ingredients we use in our healthy, safe, and natural pet food products provide higher levels of nutrients (i.e., fibers, minerals, proteins, vitamins) than those found in so-called “refined” ingredients. Our use of unrefined whole food ingredients also minimizes and helps prevent diseases and minimizes health risks associated with refining processes that strip foods of their naturally occurring nutrients. Diseases associated with eating refined foods are often the same for humans and their pets, and may include obesity, [pre-diabetic] metabolic syndrome, food allergies, diabetes, heart disease (cardiovascular disease), arthritis, and cancer.
We believe that attempts to add nutrients after the fact by “fortifying” or “enriching” foods are, at best, misguided. Such supplementation is a pale substitute for the potent, naturally occurring nutrients in unrefined whole foods. The synergy between naturally occurring food nutrients is essential for their proper functioning. Unlike naturally occurring nutrients, isolated nutrients are increasingly being implicated in a number of negative health effects. We incorporate a variety of natural functional food ingredients in each of our pet food products to allow your animal’s body the chance to pick and choose the nutrients it may require at different times.
Each Onesta Organics pet food product includes at least one “green super food.” Kelp, micro-algae (such as spirulina), or grasses like barley grass, alfalfa grass, and wheat grass provide large varieties and high levels of proteins, amino acids, enzymes, chlorophyll, minerals, trace minerals, vitamins, phytols, phytosterols, and other phytonutrients. All these nutrients are delivered together in their natural context, ensuring high bioavailability and potency. We often use powdered plant matter to enhance absorption, digestibility, and bioavailability. Additional whole food ingredients we use in our formulations-including fresh banana, carrot, and cinnamon-also contain a wide spectrum of nutrients that have been shown to prevent a number of different diseases.\r\n\r\nAll our pet food products are minimally processed (dehydrated raw), which ensures that the nutrients are available in a form that animals would eat in nature and that their bodies will recognize. Over-processing (such as baking, extruding, and canning) of food ingredients often destroys all enzymes and many vitamins, denatures proteins (i.e., amino acids), and even modifies fibers, reducing their functionality. We use mostly finely powdered ingredients (e.g., alfalfa grass powder) to enhance absorption and digestibility of nutrients. In our Onesta Organics pet food products, we soak the grains and seeds we use, allowing them to sprout. This additional step has been shown to increase available nutrient levels significantly. During this process, we also clean our grains and seeds, a step that is also generally omitted in conventional pet food manufacturing.
