http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/pdf/10.2460/javma.243.11.1549

Title: Current knowledge about the risks and benefits of raw meat–based diets for dogs and cats
PMID: 24261804
Abstract
The feeding of RMBDs to dogs and cats has received increasing attention in recent years. The American Animal Hospital Association,1 AVMA,2 and Canadian Veterinary Medical Association3 have adopted statements discouraging the inclusion of raw or undercooked animal source protein in dog and cat diets. The Delta Society’s Pet Partners Program expressed concern that pets in a therapy animal program could be shedding pathogens in the presence of immunocompromised humans and other at-risk human populations. Therefore, they adopted in 2010 a policy that precludes animals that eat RMBDs from participating in their therapy animal program.4 For each of the organizations, the primary reason indicated to oppose feeding of an RMBD was that potential pathogen contamination of the uncooked meat causes health risks to the pet fed the diet as well as to other pets, human family members, and members of the public in contact with the pet. These statements did not address other potential problems of RMBDs, such as potential nutritional imbalancesb or other safety issues of the diets (eg, feeding bones); they also did not address the reasons people want to feed these diets or potential benefits of this type of diet. A major problem in the discussion about potential risks and benefits of RMBDs is the paucity of good data from high quality studies. Information on nutritional risk or benefit is often from low-quality studies (testimonials, case series, or poor-quality cohort and case-controlled studies).5 The evidence for infectious disease risks when feeding RMBDs is of better quality and quantity, but few studies have been conducted to compare the risk of feeding RMBDs with that of feeding commercial foods,6 and no reports have been published on evaluation of the long-term risks and benefits of feeding RMBDs. The lack of consensus and paucity of good data can make it difficult for veterinarians to provide informed feeding recommendations to dog and cat owners.

It seems like every article i find discussing raw diets mentions the risk of perforation and impaction - as well as nutritional imbalances associated with raw. Now, i know there are alot of scientists and researchers alike on this forum, so i am sure there are peer reviewed articles that discuss raw and discuss the benefits from a physiological perspective - can someone point me in that direction?

Do you by chance have the full text of the article? Apparently my university stopped subscribing to AVMA several years ago, so I can't get it.

I just did a quick search for other articles, but most were with felines instead of dogs.