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.
+
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 [[Amino Acids Overview - Nutrition|gluconeogenic amino acids]] from [[Protein - Nutrition|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.