FELINE HEALTH
Keep your cats purring
More and more cat owners are discovering the many superior health benefits that canned foods provide for their pets.
Health & Wellness
Canned foods freshness in, freshness out
Eating healthy means getting the most nutritional benefit from your meals… and that’s what you get from canned goods. Many people are under the impression that “fresh” produce offers the ultimate in nutritional benefits. Not so. The term "fresh" produce is misleading, because it has lost a lot of its nutritional value by the time it shows up at your local supermarket.
Canned food is America’s most available and affordable source of excellent nutrition.
Eating healthy means getting the most nutritional benefit from your meals… and that’s what you get from canned goods. Many people are under the impression that “fresh” produce offers the ultimate in nutritional benefits. Not so. The term "fresh" produce is misleading, because it has lost a lot of its nutritional value by the time it shows up at your local supermarket.
According to nutrition expert Dr. Victor Zeines (DDS and MS in Nutrition), from the documentary Food Matters, "...your food really, in the best of times, is traveling between 1,500 and 2,000 miles before you get it and is at least a week old... How much nutrition value are you getting from food that is at least five days old? ...If you are lucky you are getting maybe 40% of what you need."
NUTRITIONAL VALUE
Preserving the goodness with canning
Canned fruits and vegetables are picked at the peak of ripeness and canned within hours. This not only delivers long-term food quality and shelf-life, but locks in food nutrients at their peak without the need to add preservatives. Steel cans are a total barrier against light, which deteriorates food from its natural vitality. In fact, many canned products actually contribute more health-promoting nutrients than cooked fresh or frozen foods.
The best way to preserve all of the nutritional benefits of fruits and vegetables is through the iron-clad technology of metal containers.
Canned Green BeansCanned CarrotCanned Tomatoes
- 49% more retention of vitamin K than fresh*
- Twice as much folic acid than frozen*
- Enhanced absorption of carotenoids*
- 451% of RDI of vitamin A in 8 oz of canned juice**
- More absorption of fiber, ***vitamins B and E, lycopene and carotenoids vs. fresh
- 11.8 mg of lycopene in 1/2 cup vs. 3.7 mg in fresh
ECONOMICAL NUTRITION
Healthy solutions that make dollars and sense
Recently, the Can Manufacturer’s Institute commissioned researchers from Michigan State University to conduct a comprehensive review of scientific literature comparing canned fruits and vegetables to fresh and frozen, based on nutrition and cost.
The study results clearly outline how canned fruits and vegetables uniquely address health and cost issues by combining canned food nutrition, affordability and convenience.
Major findings, major benefits
When seasonality, availability and shelf-life of canned food is weighed against fresh and frozen, the economic scales are tipped in favor of canned goods.
The cost of canned vegetables can be as low as 50% of the costs of frozen and 20% of the cost of fresh, with virtually no sacrifices in nutritional quality.
HOW MUCH Produce can you buy For $10?
*9 one-cup portions of vegetables.
6 one-cup portions of fruit
**11 one-cup portions of vegetables.
7 one-cup portions of fruit
***14 one-cup portions of vegetables.
10 one-cup portions of fruit
Essential Water Intake
Because cats obtain most of their water with their diet, it’s important to provide them with more meals that contain a high amount of moisture.* Since canned cat food offers significantly more moisture than dry food, canned food should be a regular part of every cat’s diet.**
Dental Health
Contrary to popular belief, there are virtually no dental health benefits in hard food diets for cats. Some veterinarians believe that carbohydrate content and starch coating of many dry foods may actually contribute to plaque build-up.*
Healthier Nutritional Content
The protein in dry food is often heavily plant-based and is not equal in quality to the protein in meat-based canned food (wet food).
The excess carbs in dry food are converted into body fat and wreak havoc on some cats’ blood sugar* that can raise the risk for diabetes and often lead to obesity.
Overcoming Feline Obesity
In addition to the issue of carbohydrates, dry food is very calorie dense and is usually free fed, which encourages obesity. A cat’s body weight can be reduced by feeding it wet food (canned food.) Eating wet food produces a voluntary reduction in calorie intake.***
Is your cat fat or fit?
