OOMPH

OOMPH is a dietary supplement for performance dogs of all activities and ages--breeding females, puppies, growing dogs, and working dogs. Dogs that face stresses yet still need to perform at their best need OOMPH.

OOMPH contains the following specifically selected natural ingredients: lecithin, yucca extract, digestive enzymes, microencapsulated live (viable) direct-fed microbials (probiotics), and amino acids.

OOMPH is a special combination of ingredients that helps maintain normal, beneficial intestinal microflora; facilitates more complete digestion and nutrient use; reduces fecal odor; and provides other nutrients at levels not found in even the "best" dog foods on the market.

OOMPH was originally developed to help maintain body condition of hunting dogs during the rigorous training and hunting season. However, better body condition is just one of the benefits derived from feeding OOMPH. Word has quickly spread about the value of OOMPH in helping active dogs of all types maintain their condition and perform at higher levels. Dogs fed OOMPH for four to six weeks exhibit more stamina and mental acuity in addition to better body, hair and skin condition. Dog trainers, field trialers, racers, and hunters all testify to the benefits of supplementing their dog rations with OOMPH.

OOMPH can also be added to growing dogs' rations to help them realize their growth potential, meet performance expectations and become winners. Old, retired dogs benefit from OOMPH through better food use, microfloral balance and lecithin as exhibited in more youthful activity and better skin and hair condition.

Research shows that feeding higher levels of lecithin provides the phospholipids and choline needed to maintain cell membrane integrity, metabolic and mental functions as well as the dietary essential Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids. For example, offspring of gestating and lactating females fed diets rich in lecithin, as found in OOMPH, mentally "hold more information" compared to offspring from unsupplemented females, according to research at Duke University.

OOMPH contains the following specifically selected natural ingredients: lecithin, yucca extract, digestive enzymes, direct-fed microbials (probiotics) and amino acids.

Lecithin is a rich source of phospholipids, especially phosphotidylcholine with lesser amounts of phosphotidylethanolamine and phosphotidlyinositol. Phospholipids are vital to proper cell membrane function and integrity.

Choline, a B-vitamin, is essential for nerve impulse transmission as acetylcholine and can spare the dietary essential amino acid methionine by supplying methyl groups needed for synthesizing other compounds in the body. It also can be used for synthesizing new phospholipids by the body. Choline from lecithin is more biologically available than choline from choline chloride.

The Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids in lecithin also play roles in cell membranes as well as being nutritionally essential for other roles in normal metabolism such as producing prostaglandins for maintaining normal metabolism. These essential polyunsaturated fatty acids cannot be synthesized by the body and therefore must be in the diet.

Phosphorus from lecithin is highly available and can be used to meet dietary requirements should the ration be marginal or deficient in this essential mineral.

Yucca extract is added to help reduce ammonia production and fecal odor. A urease-inhibiting compound in yucca extract delays the breakdown of urea, thus delaying the release of ammonia from feces. This helps keep kennel odors to a minimum, which can be very important, especially in winter when air flow is minimized to keep kennels warm.

Enzymes, particularly amylase (starch digesting), protease (protein digesting) and lipase (fat digesting) are added to augment a dog’s digestive enzymes by increasing the rate and extent of food digestion. Increasing the rate and extent of digestion of the ration helps ensure that dogs benefit from more of the nutrients in the ration and perform to the best of their ability in the field. An additional benefit of more complete digestion is reduced stool volume. This results in less feces to be collected from each kennel run daily.

Direct-fed microbials (DFMs) (probiotics) are added to provide a source of live, naturally occurring microorganisms that help maintain proper balance of intestinal micorflora. Dogs in the field and elsewhere are exposed to deleterious bacteria. Consuming a supplemental source of DFMs daily helps ward off growth of the undesirable microbes, thus maintaining a normal gut microflora.

Lecithin

Lecithin is added to OOMPH for the many special benefits it imparts. Lecithin is a normal constituent of foods but present in low concentrations except in glandular meats and eggs. Soybeans are rich in lecithin, and soybean oil is the economical source of food-grade lecithin.

Lecithin is a complex mixture of phosopholipids, triglycerides, and free fatty acids. Phosphatidylcholine, the primary phospholipid, is vital to properly functioning cellular and subcellular membranes in animal and plant tissue and is the major constituent of lecithin.

Lecithin is a good wetting agent and helps emulsify dietary fats and oils, aiding in their digestion and use. It also aids in absorbing of other fat-soluble nutrients, including fat-soluble vitamins and antioxidants such as vitamin E and B-carotene.

Classic nutrition research says that lecithin itself is not absorbed into the bloodstream. Lecithin is digested, yielding the nutrients choline, inositol, glycerol, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), other free fatty acids, and phosphate, which are absorbed. However, researchers now think that some of the responses observed from feeding lecithin could only be explained by some of the phospholipids actually being absorbed into the bloodstream. More research is needed to verify whether this is true.

Choline. Choline is an essential B vitamin that is required in greater amounts than other B vitamins. Choline derived from lecithin is biologically available and readily absorbed. Plasma choline levels remain higher when lecithin is the source as compared to other sources such as choline chloride, a choline salt. Additionally, feeding high levels of lecithin to attain high choline levels does not cause a "fishy" odor as happens when high levels of choline chloride are fed.

Choline serves in metabolic functions in addition to structural functions. As acetylcholine, it is essential for nerve impulse transmission. As a methyl group (-CH3) donor in metabolic processes, choline "spares" methionine, an essential amino acid. Choline also is "lipotropic," meaning it helps mobilize fat from the liver and, along with other lioptropic nutrients, has been shown to reduce or prevent the incidence of fatty livers. There is also evidence choline lowers homocystine levels, a precursor in cholesterol synthesis, which is implicated in heart disease.

Choline from lecithin also can be used to synthesize "new" phosphatidylcholine in cell membranes needed for growth, maintenance, reproduction, and prolonged athletic performance.

Inositol. Inositol is a component of another phospholipid, phosphatidylinositol, found in smaller quantities in lecithin. Insitol is not considered a dietary essential for higher animals. It is, however, known as a "nutrilite," a compound that stimulates the growth of digestive microflora. In this way, inositol impacts the well being and performance of animals.

Essential Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs). These are the predominant fatty acids in lecithin. Linoleic acid, an Omega 6 fatty acid is the most abundant, and linolenic acid, an Omega 3 fatty acid, is present in a significant amount. Mammals and other higher vertebrates do not synthesize these fatty acids; therefore, they must be supplied in the diet.

These essential fatty acids are required as building blocks for more complex fatty acids and other metabolic compounds that help regulate various body functions. PUFAs play an important role in heart health, skin health, and liver health as well as other vital functions in performance dogs.

Lecithin, whether through the action of its components or through more direct action, is essential to maintaining several metabolic functions and structural functions, thus providing health benefits such as liver and heart health, structural soundness, physical endurance, and mental acuity.

Yucca Extract

OOMPH contains yucca extract because it effectively reduces fecal odor and ammonia. Demonstration after demonstration shows that adding a concentrated extract from Yucca schidigera to animal diets prevents urea from decomposing to ammonia and prevents other fecal odors from forming. Keeping kennel odor to a minimum is important, especially since more dogs are confined.

Enzymes

Enzymes added to OOMPH increase the rate of digestion, aid in more complete digestion, help digest some food components that dogs cannot normally digest, reduce flatulence, and reduce stool volume.

Dogs produce the enzymes lipase, protease, and amylase, but adding supplemental amounts of these enzymes, especially amylase, helps ensure faster and more complete digestion and use of the diet. Amylase digests starches to sugars, mainly glucose, which is the primary energy source for dogs. Lipase digest fats to free fatty acids, a rich energy source. Protease digests proteins to amino acids, which are needed for growth, maintenance, reproduction, and performance. Excess amino acids are an additional energy source.

Dogs do not produce cellulase or pectinase, enzymes that digest cellulose, the fiber in plant cell wall, and pectin, another cell-wall component, respectively. Adding these enzymes helps break down some of these substances, thus increasing the energy value of the diet, reducing undigested material that can be fermented in the hind gut to gas, and reducing the volume of stool eliminated.

Direct-Fed Microbials

OOMPH contains viable, micro-encapsulated, beneficial bacteria, commonly referred to as "probiotics" or direct-fed microbials (DFMs). Direct-fed microbials are fed to help maintain a sufficient concentration of desirable microbes in the digestive tract at all times. DFMs have been shown to competitively exclude many deleterious microbes, thus helping maintain a healthy digestive system.

Supplementing a dog's diet with probiotics is not unlike having collision insurance on a car. Daily feeding of direct-fed microbials helps ensure that for whatever reason--stress, illness, antibiotics, etc.--if the normal digestive microbe population is "wrecked" that more "good" microbes are present than "bad" microbes. These beneficial microbes help prevent the deleterious ones from taking over and adversely affecting the dog's health and performance.

Article of Interest

"Feeding to Unleash Your Dog's Potential"
Importance of feeding dogs products containing lecithin, enzymes, and direct-fed microbials to maximize performance

Ordering Information

To place an order, please contact

Joy Fisher, Logistics Manager
800.654.2569
jfisher@dairymanufacturers.com

For sales and technical information, please contact

Carl Smith, Sales Manager
936.569.8007 (office)
972.569.7964 (cell)
csmith@dairymanufacturers.com

For information on custom blending, ingredients supply, or support services, please contact

Ramiro Treviño, General Manager
800.654.2569
972.347.2341
972.347.2816 (fax)
rtrevino@dairymanufacturers.com