Amino acids
An optimum supply of amino acids
It is common knowledge that proteins are an essential nutritional element. Proteins, along with their basic building blocks, amino acids, are among the fundamental components of each and every cell of the body, and are present in muscles and bones, tendons and ligaments, hair and teeth, blood and brain, and all other organs. They are also found in hormones, enzymes and antibodies, and serve as the transporters of vital substances. They are involved in the operation and preservation of various bodily functions and serve to strengthen the immune system.
The symptoms of amino acid deficiency are a general state of weakness, chronic tiredness, mental disturbances, reduced resistance to infection, deficient wound healing, and general poor health accompanied by a variety of illnesses.
Since proteins are also the main building blocks of muscles, amino acids play an essential role in repairing muscles after they have undergone the kind of intense stress that is typical of racing.
The organism is supplied with amino acids from the extraneous protein in its nutrition, which it then converts into endogenous protein. This transformation requires that proteins are split into their basic building blocks, or amino acids, before they can pass through the intestinal wall. This process uses up a great deal of energy and incurs a high level of loss. As horses and dogs have relatively short gastrointestinal tracts, which results in a rapid rate of passage and therefore a lower digestibility for any food. The supply of important amino acids can be improved considerably if it is already accessible and biologically available at the feeding stage. And this is precisely the benefit of Black Powder and Dog Active.
To determine how much extraneous protein can be converted into endogenous protein, it is necessary to calculate its biological valency.
The closer the composition of the protein in a feed is to an animal’s endogenous protein, the higher its biological valency. Black Powder and Dog Active are formulated to ideally fulfil this requirement.
A protein’s biological valency also depends largely on the amount of essential amino acids it contains.
However, an important factor of which few are aware is the role played by a protein’s limiting amino acid:
The limiting amino acid is the one present in the protein in the smallest amount with respect to its level of requirement. This limiting amino acid limits the value (the biological valency) of the entire protein.
This makes it clear just how important feed supplements can be in improving the digestion of the basic feedstuff: incorporating a suitable supplement in the feed increases the proportion of the limiting amino acid, resulting in a more favourable combination of amino acids and thus raising the biological valency of the feed as a whole.