Dietary starches are readily broken down into their monosaccharide constitutes in both dogs and cats and can contribute to a rise in post-prandial blood glucose concentrations<ref name="Hewson">Hewson-Hughes AK, et al. The effect of dietary starch level on postprandial glucose and insulin concentrations in cats and dogs. Br J Nutr 2011;106:S105-S109.</ref>. Once absorbed the monosaccharide sugar glucose is available for immediate use by brain and other tissues, while gluconeogenic amino acids from protein must first be converted to glucose via hepatic gluconeogenesis. Starch is not essential dietary nutrient, but is required for production of dry pet foods.
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Dietary starches are readily broken down into their monosaccharide constitutes in both dogs and cats and can contribute to a rise in post-prandial blood glucose concentrations<ref name="Hewson">Hewson-Hughes AK, et al. The effect of dietary starch level on postprandial glucose and insulin concentrations in cats and dogs. Br J Nutr 2011;106:S105-S109.</ref>. Once absorbed the monosaccharide sugar glucose is available for immediate use by brain and other tissues, while <span style="color:red">gluconeogenic amino acids (link to other WikiVet page)</span> from protein must first be converted to glucose via hepatic gluconeogenesis. Starch is not essential dietary nutrient, but is required for production of dry pet foods.