Meow Emperor

米糠-有害於貓!

Rice Bran – No Good for Cats!

August 10, 2012

By jhofve77

原文在此(Original article here)

The ownership and copyright of this article belongs to the original writer and this is just a translated version, only for sharing.

**本文直接翻譯自原文,非本人立場發言** 

**歡迎分享及引用,但務必註明出處**

你以為貓食製造商會確定所有他們使用的原料都對貓咪很安全。不幸的是，事實並非如此。

You would think that cat food manufacturers would make sure that the ingredients they use are safe for cats. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.

米糠是糙米充滿纖維的外殼。許多的貓食會使用糙米以及/或是米糠；這些原料是被容許可以出現在寵物食品內的。不幸的是，大約十年前的一個研究發現米糠會消耗貓咪體內的牛磺酸…而且因為糙米包含米糠，研究人員推測糙米也會造成問題。

Rice bran is what makes brown rice brown. It is the fibrous outer portion of the rice grain. Many cat foods incorporate brown rice and/or rice bran; these are allowed ingredient in pet foods. Unfortunately, a study done about 10 years ago found that rice bran depletes taurine when fed to cats…and because brown rice includes the bran, researchers speculated that it may also cause problems.

牛磺酸是貓咪必需的胺基酸。常見於肉類中，就算有些肉裡面的含量較低(像是牛肉、野牛肉、兔肉這些紅肉)。牛磺酸也可以由人工合成，大部分寵物食品內的牛磺酸均來自中國。

Taurine is an essential amino acid in cats. It is found in meat, although some meats (particularly red meats like beef and bison, as well as rabbit) are on the low end of the scale. Taurine can also be produced synthetically, although it is not made in the U.S. (most of the taurine used in pet food comes from China).

寵物食品製造商在貓食內大量使用人工合成的牛磺酸，因為牛磺酸的缺失會造成眼盲及心臟問題。寵物食品公司長久以來都以大量的玉米及其他穀類、動物性副產品代替真正的肉。在1980年代晚期，UC Davis的獸醫發現許多貓咪有這樣的問題，而罪魁禍首就是牛磺酸的缺失。

Pet food manufacturers universally add synthetic taurine to cat foods, because taurine deficiency can cause blindness as well as congestive heart failure. Pet food companies have, over time, substituted ever more corn and other grains, as well as animal by-products, in place of real meat. In the late 1980s, alert veterinarians at UC Davis realized that the same diet was being fed to cats who had developed these unusual conditions. They looked into it, and found that taurine deficiency was the culprit.

米糠會消耗貓咪的牛磺酸是比較少為人所知的。以下是那篇關於米糠研究中所提到的：

The fact that rice bran specifically depletes taurine in cats is less widely known than it should be. Here is what the rice bran study concluded:

就算米糠或完整的米產品在市售貓食中占的比例約5~20%(DM)，這個研究指出貓咪飲食中若含有這些原料，比起沒有添加這些原料的食品，他需要更高量的牛磺酸。

Although rice bran or whole rice products are included in commercial cat foods at levels between 5 and 20% diet (DM), this study shows that feline diets containing these materials may need a higher content of taurine than that in similar products without them.

有些貓食的品牌會使用米糠。這其中有些是”體重控制”配方，而他們大多數為乾糧。當然乾糧本身對貓咪就是個很糟糕的東西，但是米糠也不是個好東西。這個研究指出含有米糠或是糙米的食品需要額外添加牛磺酸，但是你沒有辦法從標示上少少的資訊得知廠商有沒有特別注意這個問題。至少有一個例子，米糠排在第三原料，而牛磺酸則是在原料表的最遠端，在維生素D後面；這表示牛磺酸可能是不足的。

There are several brands of cat food that use rice bran as an ingredient. Some of these are “weight management” foods, and most of them are dry foods. Of course, dry food itself is very bad for cats, but the rice bran issue is worth noting as well. The research indicates that foods containing rice bran or brown rice need extra taurine, but it is impossible to tell from the limited information on the label if this caution is being followed. In at least one case, rice bran is the third ingredient, while taurine is far down on the list, after Vitamin D; this suggests that the taurine may be inadequate.

如果你正給貓咪吃乾糧，請考慮轉換成罐罐或是自製鮮食…但不論如何，請確定你給的貓食裡面不含這個可能非常危險的原料。

If you are feeding your cat dry food, please consider switching to canned or homemade…but in any case, make sure that your cat food does not contain this potentially harmful ingredients.