Copper Confusion: Separating Science from Speculation in Pet Nutrition

Barking Mad

There’s a heated debate happening in the pet food space around copper in dog food. This essential trace mineral is critical for canine health, yet veterinarians have recently begun to speculate on excessive dietary copper causing liver disease in dogs—but there’s much more to this story. Join us as we unravel the copper controversy with experts from BSM Partners, Zinpro Corporation, and Trouw Nutrition.

Helpful Links

Is Copper-Associated Hepatopathy the new DCM? https://www.petfoodprocessing.net/articles/17850-is-copper-associated-hepatopathy-the-new-dcm

Unraveling the Copper Controversy: https://www.petfoodprocessing.net/articles/18426-unraveling-the-copper-controversy

Empowering Listeners to Separate Good Research from the Bad:

• Pawing Through the Research: Uncovering the Fatal Flaws of DCM: https://bsmpartners.net/barking-mad-podcast/pawing-through-the-research-uncovering-the-fatal-flaws-of-dcm
• Think Twice: Even Bad Science Can Get Published! https://bsmpartners.net/barking-mad-podcast/think-twice-even-bad-science-can-get-published

Show Notes

00:00 – Welcome and Introduction

01:31 – Is CAH the New DCM?

04:00 – Understanding Copper

09:22 – Breaking Down CAH: Copper-Associated Hepatopathy

11:40 – Insights on Incidence

13:36 – Historical Copper Recommendations

16:50 – The Controlled Copper Claim Debate

20:42 – The Importance of Source

24:02 – How Pets Handle Copper

28:12 – Less About Level, More About Source

30:01 – A Historic Retraction

31:30 – Correlation vs Causation

33:23 – A Lack of Research, and Opportunities for More

42:15 – The Speed of Information (And Misinformation)

44:59 – Conclusion and Farewell