Animal health in modern animal production is now a major challenge on a global basis as it impacts upon food supply, human health and international trade, yet in reality there are few options to manage animal health. There is an increasing reluctance to use therapeutic treatments of animals raised for food and vaccines are not suitable solutions for all diseases. This focuses attention upon nutrition as the only practical solution to maintain animal health. However, criteria commonly used in animal nutrition usually do not take into account the importance of health maintenance and disease avoidance. Therefore, to develop a positive nutrition-based health strategy it is necessary to consider the fundamental interactions between health and nutrition.
An important aspect of nutrition-based health is that it is a strategy to treat healthy animals and therefore it must rely upon nutritional components which are safe for animal and human consumption. The application of a nutrition-based health strategy also challenges the current concepts of nutritional requirements based on avoidance of deficiency symptoms.
Nutricines, bioactive feed components, and nutrients, influence health in many different ways. They can help to maintain feed quality and reduce the risk of mycotoxin contamination. They have an impact upon gene expression.
Nutritional components have a positive effect in maintaining the gastrointestinal tract and alleviating the threat of enteric diseases. Many nutricines are active against pathogenic micro-organisms and influence the efficacy of the immune system. They influence many non-infectious diseases through a control of oxidative stress. There will be a need to develop methods to assess the health status in animals which do not display overt signs of ill health.
It is becoming increasingly evident that in raising animals for food : “Nutrition Is All There Is ” and a nutrition-based health strategy must play a major role in the future development of animal production.
Contents
- Feed Components: Nutrients and Nutricines in Nutrition-based Health
- The Genome, Gene Expression and Feed
- Feed-Pathogen Interactions
- Feed-Mycotoxin Interactions
- Feed-Host Interactions (1): Gastrointestinal Integrity
- Feed-Host Interactions (2): Support the Immune System
- Feed-Host Interactions (3) : Oxidative Stress and Disease
- Feed Intake and Health Assessment
- General Conclusions
- Index
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