The Science of Thriving

University of Helsinki DogRisk metabolomics tracked 46 Staffordshire Bull Terriers over 4.5 months. Dogs eating extruded kibble carried elevated systemic Homocysteine (100 baseline), triglycerides, glucagon, and TyG insulin resistance (85 index). Dogs switched to an ancestral prey-model raw diet dropped Homocysteine by 81% (down to 19), cut insulin resistance by 53%, lowered blood triglycerides by 53%, and elevated clean ketogenic ketone adaptation 9×.

CITE: Moore, R. et al. (2025). Targeted Metabolomics in Staffordshire Bull Terriers. University of Helsinki DogRisk Research Group.

Study 02 (The Synthetic Gap & AGEs):AAFCO tables act as an industrial survival floor requiring extruded kibble to spray on synthetic “Vitamin Packs.” Dogs absorb 95% of Heme Iron from raw beef spleen and whole organs vs. only ~20%from synthetic Ferrous Sulfate—meaning ~80% of unabsorbed synthetic salts bypass uptake and burden hepatic/renal clearance. Furthermore, cooking protein and starches under extrusion heat creates oxidative Maillard Reaction AGEs linked to renal and inflammatory stress, whereas Cold-Mist raw processing generates 0% AGEs.

Study 03 (Early-Life Epigenetics & 20% Rule): Puppies weaned onto raw green tripe and organ meats show markedly fewer environmental allergies and chronic enteropathy flare-ups later in life (allergy trajectory dropping from 100% to 39% by 1 year), while puppies raised on processed kibble were 61–85% more likely to develop chronic IBD. Even replacing just 20% of a processed kibble bowl with raw meat, organs, or a whole-food topper triggers protective anti-inflammatory gene expression.

CITE: Journal of Animal Science (Micronutrient Bioavailability) · Hielm-Björkman et al. (2020), Diet, Atopy & Chronic Enteropathy in Canines, University of Helsinki.