new research debunks trad views on nutrition

Pics

Perris

Still learning
Premium Feather Member
6 Years
Jan 28, 2018
9,525
57,846
1,097
Gower, Wales
According to Tim Spector, Food for Life: the new science of eating well, Jonathan Cape 2022: xiv
Myths that have benefited the food industry and which we should now dispel include: all calories are equal, low-calorie foods are good, high-fat foods are bad, artificial sweeteners are healthy, high levels of processing are harmless, and food and vitamin supplements are as good as real food.

Spector is Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King's College London, and honorary consultant physician at Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals. These are all world class institutions. He is writing about human diet and nutrition, but much of it applies to chicken diet and nutrition too.

For example, that UPFs (ultra processed foods) made up of many chemicals make us feel hungrier, over-consume, and increase risks of disease and earlier death. This applies to chicken feed pellets, which are specifically designed to achieve the first two, and don't care about the last two because the chickens that they are designed for are not intended or expected to live very long.

I do not expect those BYCers who trot out their tired dogmas on food, feeds, and fats, at any and every opportunity, to stop doing it, but their views are now being labelled as myths by people who really know what they're talking about, and have extensive evidence to prove it.

And the chicken feed industry is catching up with the human feed industry on these matters, so attempting to dismiss it as irrelevant won't wash either.
Edited to add: see e.g. the paper quoted in post #412 below.
 
Last edited:
I thought all those things were already common knowledge at this point. :confused:

I'm sure almost everyone here would agree that fresh whole foods are better overall than processed feeds, but there are two major issues with feeding whole grains to BYC

1) A lot of people just make up their own feed recipe, which is often lacking in crucial nutrients. And since most chickens are confined to a relatively small area they have no way to make up for those deficiencies.

and 2) because a most chicken keepers tend to use large hopper type feeders it enables the chickens to pick and choose endlessly from what is offered, which also results in a deficient diet.
 
Last edited:
it enables the chickens to pick and choose endlessly from what is offered, which also results in a deficient diet.
this is false. There are papers showing that both laying hens and chicks select a balanced diet if offered all the necessary elements separately:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119347285
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119562289

Edited to add: see also now the paper linked in #143, on meat birds selecting a balanced diet when offered free choice.

Edited again to add: see now the paper linked in #196, on pullets laying more eggs and with better feed efficiency when allowed to self-select their food.
 
Last edited:
Its right as far as it goes.

I'm not hugely opposed to high fat feeds IF I know the feeds was designed for it. Unfortunately, US labelling doesn't provide mKe or similar reference, so there's no way to know. Knowing that a range of mKe is acceptable for most, and that its moderately narrow, I'm opposed to addding a bunch of high fat treats on top of the (assumedly) balanced complete ration.

Just as I wouldn't recommend routinely putting a 1/4 cup of olive oil on every meal you serve yourself, or offering up the salad with a half slab of bacon. No matter how good that half slab might taste.

If there were one easy answer, there wouldn't be such debate - but there isn't, its an interconected balancing of pros and cons.
 
Last edited:
Chickens and 'pasture': there's no uniform standard here! What grows on my property, seasonally, isn't the same as yours, even a mile down the road. And there's not a lot for my birds when there's snow and frozen ground!
Also, birds who produce 200+ eggs each year aren't the same as birds producing less than 100, some much less.
Some individuals will manage a lot better than others if offered whole grains, while other individuals will pig out on a couple of ingredients and not do as well.
Horses are looking for ways to suicide, and overeating is high on their list! Cattle can bloat in the right circumstances too.
In warm weather our chickens (when they can free range) eat less of their balanced diet. When they are confined, and in winter, there's nothing much else for them.
In many ways a high producing hen is like a serious athlete, who has to eat right, or not do well.
Mary
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom