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Just this week I have had many questions come into my email account regarding the topic of protein in our exotic companion birds’ diet.  This seems to be a topic that many of us have been left feeling confused about due to the misinformation we have been dealt.

I am going to attempt to make this a relatively short article, but I promise nothing because this is a rather involved subject matter due to the fact that we have been duped into believing something totally incorrect about how our “parrots” which are in a class of their own as “Aves” derive, digest, absorb and metabolize protein compared to “Mammals”, which they are not.

Let me first explain the main difference of “Aves” to “Mammals” specifically where “protein” needs are concerned. Let me stress I am going to be discussing the protein requirements of these two classes, and that’s about all, so please don’t expect me to go into detail about much else regarding these two classes in this particular article except where it concerns the consumption, digestion, absorption and metabolism of proteins.

Many Mammals, but not all, are carnivorous; they eat meat (muscle tissue), and other animal protein sources, in abundance in order to replenish their body’s protein requirements. There are other nutrients they receive from muscle tissue sources, but remember, we are discussing the protein requirements in this article. But our parrots do not eat muscle tissue as the main part of their protein supply. Instead they consume mostly plant matter and their body utilizes the plant proteins for their protein supply. In smaller quantities they consume larvae and insects for the “animal protein” they supply.

Many mammals are omnivorous; they eat muscle tissue as well as vegetative matter and have a cecum, a fairly small organ, but relative to the size of the creature, off to the side of the small intestine that aids in the digestion of cellulose in vegetative matter. However, a cecum is not necessary for the digestion of meat and grains, only vegetative matter, mainly vegetables, grasses, herbs, leaves and any roughage.  Many mammals ruminate, or “chew their cud” (but not all). They have more than one “stomach”, so their food goes through many digestive processes, not just one.

But our parrots do not have a cecum so consuming tough fibrous matter is not advisable for them, yet still they consume mostly plant matter as the main source of their protein supply. And our parrots do not ruminate, so they don’t have multiple stomachs, they have one, fairly narrow and short digestive tract.

So if in the Wild parrots do not consume a large volume of muscle tissue in order to fulfill their protein requirements and they cannot consume a lot of tough fibrous vegetative matter because they lack a cecum that aids in breaking down the cellulose in vegetative matter, and they don’t have multiple stomachs in which to “chew their cud”, how do they receive enough quality protein to keep their protein level at maximum in order to remain in optimum health?

The “plant” material of choice for our frugivorous / herbivorous exotic birds is mainly berries and fruit and the seed contained within them. They also consume nuts, the larvae and insects within the berries, fruit, seed and nuts they consume, tender young grasses/leaves/herbs, dirt/clay and other foods, and sometimes they scavenge for meat off of dead carcasses, but I reiterate, this is not their main choice of protein.

But the proteins in plants, like the berries, fruits, seed, nuts and grasses/leaves and herbs our birds would consume in the Wild are “locked” in those food sources. In other words they are bound by phytic acids that protect the plant from being destroyed by pests and predators. So how do our exotic birds manage to derive any dietary protein from these plant sources?

This is the key part the commercial bird food manufacturers have not been telling us…

Instead we have been told that our birds cannot absorb protein unless they receive adequate levels of the amino acid “methionine” in their daily diet. So what does the commercial bird food manufacturer do? They make sure to place the synthetic form of methionine in their formula of bird food, L-methionine, to ensure that the plant protein in their food is absorbed. One problem, methionine is mainly found in animal proteins. Yes, it is found in small quantities in plant proteins, but not so much. It is abundant in animal proteins because it is the main amino acid necessary to aid in the absorption of animal protein, not plant protein. So this begs the question, “Why are commercial bird manufacturers using an animal protein amino acid to aid in the absorption of plant proteins?”  It doesn’t make any sense.  The reason they are doing this is because it is very difficult, actually almost impossible to place the digestive enzymes in mass-produced commercial bird food necessary that aids in the absorption of plant proteins because they are destroyed by pressure and/or heat used in the production of highly-processed commercial bird foods.

What are these digestive enzymes that are necessary for plant proteins to be absorbed and the kind of proteins that our exotic birds in the Wild actually THRIVE upon? Proteases.

These proteases are found in very specific foods. They are not found in just any old food. This is why Nature placed certain foods in the very locations our birds originated from. This is why research is finally strongly indicating, and showing with photos, that exotic birds consume berries and fruit in the Wild. Yes, dark berries and fruit have the highest volume of proteases. After that come dark grasses and dark leaves and dark herbs.

These proteases are to plant proteins what methionine is to animal protein; the proteases aid in the absorption of plant protein like methionine aids in the absorption of animal protein. Without the proteases the plant protein DOES NOT get absorbed, it’s that simple.

So you can feed all of the seed and nuts you want thinking you are supplying good sources of protein, but without the proteases from the dark berries and fruit, nada, almost no amount of protein is going to be absorbed from those foods. But you know what will happen? Because these foods are exceptionally high in the amino acid Arginine, and most all foods contain Arginine, your bird will eventually begin to suffer Arginine overload and probably begin to pick and pluck its feathers. Why? Because the amino acid profile is improperly balanced and the Arginine is causing a nitric oxide build up in your bird which is causing inflammation, along with the high amount of omega 6’s that is in most commercial bird foods. In other words the “good fat” ratio is also being thrown off and your bird may have inflammation occurring throughout its body causing anything from feather-destruction to cardiovascular disease simply because your bird is not receiving the correct protein supply containing the correct fatty acids along with the correct carbohydrate source.

And please don’t cloud your reasoning by thinking you can feed vegetables as a good source of these proteases, they just aren’t as abundant in vegetables as they are in the dark berries and fruit. You see dark berries, or berries in general, and fruit are filled with “pectin” where the proteases are found. The cellulose, the tough fibrous matter, is mainly on the outside of the produce where the bird can discard it. Gram for gram berries and fruit contain a much higher percent of pectin in volume than vegetables do. Pectin is a type of fiber that gently flushes the digestive tract of toxins. It acts like a sponge, both extracting toxins, but also delivering nutrients such as fatty acids, amino acids, essential carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. Contrary to vegetables that yes, do contain many nutrients, but unfortunately for our exotic birds, the high amount of cellulose they contain woven within the vegetable itself, actually scrubs the digestive tract, even of the vegetable’s own nutrients as the food passes through the digestive tract leeching out the nutrients already present in the digestive tract. Plus vegetables are not as high in proteases as berries and fruit to begin with.

But then there is this myth that the “sugar” in berries and fruit will 1)cause yeast infections and 2)cause diabetes.  Let me set these myths straight. Neither of these statements are true, they are absolutely incorrect.

The “sugar” in berries and fruit, whether they are wild or domestic, are the most simple, and essential carbohydrates known to science; they are Glucose, Galactose, Mannose, Fucose, Xylose, N-Acetyl-Glucosamine, N-Acetyl-Galactosamine, and N-Acetyl-Neuramanic Acid.  These are so important that science has given them an official term, “glycoproteins”. No one thinks of carbohydrates as being “essential” like amino acids or other nutrients, but I assure you, these are the carbohydrates that living creatures MUST have in order to thrive, and they are found abundantly in berries and fruit. Glycoproteins are the method in which cells communicate with each other. Without glycoproteins a living creature’s body would cease to effectively communicate and all systems would be in total chaos, this is the beginning of disease. Ever wonder why we are told to eat an abundance of fruit? This is why, because they contain certain polyphenols that are terrifically powerful anti-oxidants that help prevent all kinds of illness and disease, even acting as anti-carcinogens, ridding the body of all sorts of toxins. When consumed on a regular basis they help keep a living creature’s gut flora in balance because of the way the “sugars” interact with other digestive acids and proteins.  These glycoproteins have been found to not only stave off illness and disease, but to actually reverse allergies, viruses, bacterial infections, and all other kinds of auto-immune illnesses and diseases because once added back in to the living creature’s body all systems begin to properly communicate and come back into balance.

So what actually causes yeast infections? It is when the gut flora becomes out of balance and fermentation begins to set in because of consuming foods, or medications, that have caused the gut flora to enter a state of imbalance. And each species has certain foods it was meant to consume and certain foods it was not meant to consume.

Because our exotic birds are in the class of “Aves” they are meant primarily to consume berries, fruit, seed, nuts, and then tender young grasses/leaves/herbs, larvae/insects, dirt/clay, etc. –While some of the berries and fruit they would consume in the Wild would be unripe, containing some fruit starch, they are not meant to consume large volumes of grain and legume starch. I personally believe feeding these foodstuffs to our birds is causing an imbalance in their gut flora and then causing a constant fermenting process in their digestive tract lending itself to an ever-constant low level yeast infection. Yes, these starches are a carbohydrate, and therefore they are “sugar”. But the interesting thing about these starches is that they are “resistant starches” requiring the enzyme “amylase” usually found in the mouth, at the beginning of the digestive process in most creatures, but not found until the lower gut in exotic birds, meaning they do not digest well in exotic birds, and they sit virtually undigested waiting for the enzyme “amylase” from the pancreas to show up in order to begin the digestive process. Unfortunately because this takes place further down in the digestive tract fermentation begins and the gut flora is constantly being put at an imbalance when we feed grains and legumes. Not only does this cause “sugar” to multiply, it places a strain on the pancreas always needing to produce an abundance of amylase and over-produce insulin to handle the constant overload of starch we are placing in our birds’ systems, starch they were never intended to consume. We are creating a “resistant starch” overload and this is why our birds have yeast infections and why we see so many of our birds developing pancreatitis and diabetes, it’s the inability to properly digest the resistant starches (sugars) in grains and legumes, not because we feed berries and fruit (essential carbohydrates).

*Here is the key difference between resistant starches and the way they break down and are absorbed, and the 8 essential carbohydrates in berries and fruit and the way they are absorbed. Resistant starches are slow to break down, often fermenting in the gut providing an excellent breeding ground for candida albicans (yeast) before actually breaking down into a useable nutrient source. On the other hand berries and fruit break down very quickly into useable nutrient sources, something Nature purposely designed having exotic birds in mind so they would not have to carry a large amount of weight in flight in ratio to the amount of energy they receive from their food sources. Resistant starch breaks down into glucose causing a glucose overload in the system. While in some cases this can be useful to manage some blood sugar problems that have already arisen due to improper diets causing an insulin problem, for healthy bodies this glucose overload presents a problem because living creatures are not designed to properly function on glucose alone, they are designed to function on all 8 essential carbohydrates listed above. And this is why a diet that contains berries and fruit supplies, in balance, all 8 essential carbohydrates, not just glucose as an isolated carbohydrate.

So there we have it, the reason for yeast infections and the precursor to diabetes, feeding our birds what is not indigenous to their body’s needs, and what their system was not designed to consume, an over-load of resistant starches. Our birds are becoming ill because we are not  feeding them what their system was designed to consume, an abundance of berries and fruit with limited amounts of the other foods they are designed to consume.

Basically, any illness or “dis-ease” is caused by an imbalance in the living creature that is ill. Getting to the root of the problem will solve the illness and disease in most cases. If the body is fed the right kinds of food specific to that species’ particular needs, and the environment is healthy as well, then most living creatures will thrive. This is the reason for research and diet exploration of exotic birds in the Wild. We are finally beginning to realize that we cannot feed our exotic birds like we have been feeding poultry because their digestive systems are completely different, and they originate from completely different regions, and they live completely different lives in the regions they come from.  It’s like we have been trying to take a fish out of water and make it breathe air…there is no way a fish is going to be able to survive on air anymore than a parrot can survive on chicken scratch.

What does this have to do with protein?

Take a look at your commercial bird food ingredient list.

Take a look at the list of ingredients in your homemade mash.

Ten to one they both contain high amounts of grains, legumes and vegetative matter.

But they are virtually void of berries and fruit.

If this is the case then your bird may not be receiving proteases.

And if this is the case your bird may be receiving plant proteins, but your bird is not absorbing adequate plant proteins.

But your bird may be receiving too much in the way of cellulose that is leeching nutrients from the digestive tract.

And your bird may be receiving too many resistant starches that are causing an imbalance in gut flora that may be causing a hidden yeast infection and leading to insulin problems that may result in pancreatitis or diabetes.

I ask you, please, do not feed commercially prepared “protease formulas”.  It is very, very difficult to formulate an enzyme formula and have it remain stabilized without the enzymes dying off, and without a preservative. I can almost guarantee that any enzyme formula you purchase will contain some kind of preservative in order to stabilize the enzymes. The best source of proteases will come from fresh, organic dark berries, berries in general and fruit. These also contain the polyphenols (anthocyanins) specific to berries and fruit that help fight cancer and keep the cardiovascular system humming. Feeding fresh organic is always best, but during the Winter you may have to purchase frozen and defrost to room temperature before feeding (our exotic birds’ internal temperature is 103-105 degrees), or feed dried, unsulfured. No, there is not more “sugar” in dried fruit, drying it does not cause more sugar to magically occur within the fruit. Yes, it concentrates the carbohydrates because the moisture is absent, but gram for gram the same amount of carbohydrate is present.  Drying the fruit doesn’t change the composition of the carbohydrate; it is still the same simple, essential carbohydrate it was before dehydrating. So feed the dried fruit with confidence!

Who would have ever known that carbohydrates had so much to do with protein in our birds’ diets? But they do when they are the right kind of carbohydrates, the kind that contain high amounts of proteases that break the plant proteins down into useable sources of smaller units of proteins our birds’ digestive systems, specifically the metabolic system was designed to recognize!

So much for writing a short article…

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