What is it about?
Plant-based diets for dogs sold in the UK provide similar nutrition to meat-based diets. The study highlights the importance of a balanced and nutritious diet for our canine companions, and that plant-based can meet these criteria. Dogs, like humans, are omnivores and require specific nutrients rather than specific ingredients. As plant-based diets gain popularity in human nutrition, the pet food industry is following suit with vegan diets becoming increasingly popular.
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Why is it important?
The study analysed the nutritional completeness of 31 meat- and plant-based dog foods purchased in the UK, including total protein and individual amino acids, fatty acids, major and trace elements, vitamin D and all B-vitamins. The study found that plant-based diets, when properly formulated, can be a healthy and viable alternative to meat-based options. However, both plant- and meat-based foods showed similarly incomplete nutritional profiles, with 30 out of 31 products missing at least one essential nutrient according to FEDIAF guidelines. Notably, deficiencies in plant-based diets mirrored those commonly seen in plant-based human diets, such as having low iodine and B vitamin content. Interestingly, in addition, the majority (66%) of veterinary-renal diets with lower total protein by design (and with a 'guaranteed-analysis'), were also deficient in one or more essential amino acids. Of the tested nutrients 55%, 16%, 24% and 100% of foods met all amino acid, mineral, B-vitamin, and vitamin D guidelines, respectively.
Perspectives
Plant-based diets, when properly formulated, can be a healthy and viable alternative to meat-based options. Ideally the next step is long-term feeding studies. As the world begins to rethink how we are to feed an increasingly large population, including companion animals, perhaps alternative protein sources are not only better for the planet, but also beneficial for our four-legged companions. Adopting a plant-based dietary pattern for companion canines can provide nutritional adequacy, but feeding supplemental iodine and B-vitamins should also be considered by manufacturers.
Professor David S Gardner
University of Nottingham
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Nutritional analysis of commercially available, complete plant- and meat-based dry dog foods in the UK, September 2024, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press,
DOI: 10.1101/2024.09.11.612409.
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