Shar-Pei nutrition

Question
I have been reading alot about how Shar-Pei's require special nutrition guidelines to follow. That their food needs to be made all-natural, homemade, because of all the health problems they incur. Is this 100% true or do the commercial foods do just as well. can you suggest a top of the line commercial grade for my Shar-Pei or some home recipes to prepare her own? She is 2 yrs old and not currently fixed, though I plan to very soon. She is a very active outside dog. Thank you for your time. One more thing, what is the deal on giving them garlic? I have head so many different opinions on that topic. Can you clear that up for me as well?

Answer
Much of what you hear comes from people selling things.  Much of it is disguised as advice.  Even here, one expert gives a link to the website where you can buy what she recommends.  The net is filled with astroturf, what looks like grassroot support, but really is rooted in somebody with a financial interest.  

Before the current form of the net existed, we were raising puppies for a large dog guide school that feeds Pro Plan, no better rated than Science, Iams, etc.  Once I started reading how awful it was, I started digging.  What I have learned is that many other service dog schools with all their resources to determine the best diet and the incentive to do so, are feeding back of the pack chows including Iams, Science Diet, and Pro Plan.  I have not been able to find any research backing up the claims of the premium chows.  I have challenged people on open forums to provide me with research backing the premium chows.  They don't seem to appreciate the importance of controlled testing.  They don't seem to think their opinions need testing to be valid.  Those selling premium chows are very good at exploiting the emotions of many.

As for garlic, too much of it is toxic.  I have never seen any evidence it does any good.  I think much of what you read about its benefits is wishful thinking.  I am not giving my dog anything for fleas, and he is free of them.  It could be that those that claim garlic keeps the fleas off their dog wouldn't have fleas either without the garlic.