Until recently, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex was only one of many obscure ingredients listed on some cat food labels. You may also have seen it as "Vitamin K3" among other names. The use of Menadione, as I'll refer to it here, has become increasingly controversial as a cat food ingredient. One of Menadione's biggest opponents is Susan Thixon, founder of PetSumer Report Online. She writes for Big Cat Rescue that Menadione has carcinogenic effects and "is toxic to kidneys, lungs, liver, mucous membranes." The FDA takes a less cautious approach and has no present restrictions on the use of Menadione in pet foods, if you can read through its obscure language in this PDF file.
I've noticed Menadione listed in the ingredients of some of the premium foods on my current lists. Since the jury is still out on Menadione, I will not remove those foods from the lists, but will note the inclusion of Menadione in their descriptions, and in other foods, going forward. Read more on Menadione.
Comments
I don’t understand how it is carcinogenic. Does she have research to back up that it is the synthetic vitamin K that is the problem? Does that mean that the synthesizing is the problem.
Sigh. I may just go back to 9-Lives and forget about it.
Here’s her article, E. There’s a link half-way down the article to a Science Lab article
>>>I may just go back to 9-Lives and forget about it.<<<
I don't know about you, E, but I'd much prefer a premium food with *one* controversial ingredient than a "supermarket" food with multiple very undesirable ingredients AND that controversial ingredient.
9-Lives Ingredients:
*poultry by-product meal, **corn gluten meal, soybean meal, whole wheat, *meat & bone meal, *animal fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), salmon, chicken, beef, *animal digest, salt, phosphoric acid, choline chloride, titanium dioxide, potassium chloride, vitamins (vitamin E supplement, niacin supplement, d-calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin supplement, vitamin A supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, *menadione sodium bisulfite complex*, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement), taurine, minerals (ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, manganous oxide, copper sulfate, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), red 40, yellow 5, yellow 6, potassium sorbate (used as a preservative), *BHA (used as a preservative), blue 1, rosemary extract.
*Ingredients to Avoid
**Undesirable ingredients
Why give your animals something that is toxic to humans?? The FDA has banned synthetic vitamin-K in OTC products b/c it is so dangerous. Europe has banned it also. If you want your pet to get Vit-K then look for foods w/ green leafy veggies in it. Dogs can eat spinach, bananas, & broccoli for example. So you can even supplement store pet food w/ veggies. I think the best question to all pet owners & humans regarding controversial ingredients -IS WHY TAKE THE CHANCE? There is real good quality food so why not eat that?!
Hi Franny,
I agree with you on the Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex. It is actually toxic in long-term use. Mendione is in fact acknowledged as toxic enough to be used in testing for Lethal Dose (LD50) of toxic substances by comparison. Menadione derivatives are used to induce toxicity experimentally so as to do research on how to undo it.
I do not quite agree on the ingredients you marked as bad in 9-Lives: Poultry by-product meal (although as # 1 ingredient not so good), meat (nothing wrong with ground up meat unless it is the “wrong” animal) & bone meal (source of calcium and other minerals, mouse bones are eaten, too) and animal digest (predigested stuff a cat usually gets from a mouse stomach) are not the worst ingredients in that food. It is bad for other reasons: One of the sources of protein is SOY BEAN MEAL, which has nothing to do with proper cat nutrition. It is a hazard for the kidneys waiting to happen since it has wrong pH. Beef is not the most suitable meat for cats. I agree on the animal fat being bad (chicken fat would be good, everything else is potentially bad). Red 40, yellow 5, yellow 6, blue 1 (<- all potentially allergenic), rosemary extract (cheap and health damaging preservative for cats) can cause all kinds of allergies. And BHA is a potential carcinogenic.
No one at this time has posted an actual study that backs up the statements made. All information so far refers back to unsubstantiated websites with referalls to other unsubstantiated websites.
The origin of the information comes from a report in Europe that the Author admits having trouble in translating.
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminK/index.html#food_sour
Study from the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University reporting Menadione toxicity.
As near as I can tell, the only concrete info comes from the Material Safety Data Sheets which are issued for the concentrated product, not the small amounts that wind up in pet food. Please be careful when extrapolating this information.
If any of you objecting to Menadione Sodium Bisulfate in food drink tap water, you better think twice. The flouride you are drinking in the water, in its concentrated form, must be stored in secure buildings that can only be entered with respirators and safety clothing. The HF is a strong acid that will burn thru your skin and poison you; one lung full will put you in the hospital. Yes, I worked as a water/wastewater chemist for a number of years and I don’t drink unfiltered tap water.
I’m still looking for some studies that link Menadione with health problems in pets. Anyone have any links to share?
BTW Sonya:
“…animal digest (predigested stuff a cat usually gets from a mouse stomach)…”
“Animal digests” in pet food are NOT the same as “digested food” from a prey animal’s stomach except to the extent they have both been exposed to a chemical agent that breaks down organic matter into smaller pieces. The commercial “digestion” process uses very poor quality body parts and harsh chemicals to do the job.
Feed your pets to the best of your ability folks, but realize there are no perfect solutions. I advocate raw diets whenever practicable.
This is for B. Dawson:
Thank you for your expert comments. I can’t really disagree with anything you’ve posted.
When I was a child, we lived in Lubbock, TX for awhile. My cousins there all had brown horizontal ridges on their teeth. I learned much later that it was caused by the very large amount of “natural” flouride in the wells that supplied the town’s drinking water.
Since today we can’t control the flouride that many municipalities add to water, I’ve had a longtime policy of using only filtered tap water.
I bought BFF and it seems to have this same ingredient. I have a cat that was recently diagnosed with CRF and there’s no way I’m feeding him something with the potential to hurt his kidneys. He’s getting Hills k/d from here on out.