We are sharing more about why whole food nutrition is so important for people and pups. It’s not just freshness that matters. The form of the nutrients in whole foods are optimal for animals to digest. Unfortunately, kibble AND most of the “fresh pet food” available on the market is made nutritionally complete with synthetic vitamins and chemicals. In this post we share which nutrients are better in natural form and what this means for you and your pups.
TLDR: Get your pup’s (and your own) vitamins from real food. Not only are many synthetic vitamins inferior to their natural versions, there is evidence that high doses of some synthetic vitamins are associated with disease.
What are synthetic vitamins & why are they used?
If you look at the ingredients label on any dog food, even the fanciest fresh food options, you’ll likely see a few recognizable ingredients (chicken, potatoes, peas, etc) followed by an extensive list of hard to pronounce chemicals—the synthetic vitamins used to make the food nutritionally complete.
These are substances made in labs that are chemically similar to the vitamins and minerals found in real food.
Why are they preferred by dog food manufacturers?
- They are cheap and make it easy to balance food - Whole foods are expensive compared to synthetic vitamin powder. In our Pup Pot Meals, we use sunflower seeds to meet vitamin E requirements and oyster powder as a natural source of zinc, copper and selenium. Dog food manufacturers opt for the cheap powders, but there are risks, see below.
- Consumers don’t see it as a negative…yet - Up until recently, I didn’t even question these ingredients when looking at a food label. I saw a bunch of vitamins and minerals and assumed it was a good thing that they were covering all the nutrients my dog needs.
- Lots of ingredients make it complicated to replicate - This is just our opinion, but we think that dog food is made to be overcomplicated on purpose. If you tried to make your own dog food at home following the ingredients on a kibble label, you would be overwhelmed with all the synthetic vitamins you have to add.
Your dog’s multivitamin is just a bunch of synthetic vitamins they don’t need.
Most dog multivitamins are meat-flavored treats with a bunch of synthetic vitamins mixed in.
Dog food is required to meet AAFCO nutrition standards by law, and they do this by adding synthetic vitamins. Adding MORE synthetic vitamins to your dog’s diet with a multivitamin is unnecessary and may be doing more harm than good. More on this below.
If you’re going to supplement, give your dog whole foods with natural nutrients. Treats we like are liver, oysters and sardines are delicious and nutritious, avoid more cheap carbohydrates.
The one supplement we do believe may be beneficial in larger amounts is fish oil for omega-3s, which is a natural food product, not synthetic! But use a good one that’s third party tested and verified.
Why is whole food nutrition superior?
Since widespread synthetic vitamin use is only about 80 years old, we are still learning about their impact in biology. In recent decades several landmark studies have shown that many synthetic vitamins are not only inferior to their natural versions, in some cases synthetic vitamins are associated with harm. Thirty years ago suggesting synthetic vitamins were inferior would classify one as a quack. Things change fast, but not everyone catches on so quickly. Here is a break down:
- Bioavailability - Bioavailability is just a fancy word to describe how much of a nutrient an organism can use. The more bioavailable a nutrient, the more active it is. Several synthetic vitamins are less bioavailable than natural forms. For example synthesized vitamin E consists of 8 different forms (called isomers) only 4 of which are biologically active. This leads to natural vitamin E being up to twice as potent as synthetic. Other vitamins that are more active in natural form include B vitamins and vitamin K, while minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc and selenium tend to be better absorbed in natural forms.
- Toxicity - Many forms of synthetic vitamins are different than natural forms either because synthesis is too costly or too difficult. But different forms also means different toxicity levels. In other words, synthetic vitamins may do many of the same things as natural vitamins, but how difficult it is to remove them from the body is often different. For example, folic acid, a synthetic form of the B vitamin folate, is not recommended to be taken by people at more the 1 mg / day. Natural folate, however, does not have the same recommendation.
- Health and disease - One meta-analysis concludes that high-dose vitamin E supplementation in people may INCREASE all-cause mortality. Also, high-dose vitamin A supplements are associated with an 18% higher cancer rate in smokers. Again, natural food does not have a similar association.
- Interactions - Nutrients in natural food often help with digestion of vitamins and minerals. For example, vitamin A absorption is enhanced by consuming fats. Many vitamins and minerals work together, for example vitamin B12 and folate work together in cell replication processes, while vitamin D aids in calcium and phosphorous absorption. Many of these interactions are yet to be studied.
- Contamination - A 2018 study of prenatal vitamins showed that nearly 40% of supplements tested exceeded established standards for lead toxicity. Given that prenatal vitamins are targeted at the most vulnerable demographic (expectant mothers), we can assume that animal additives are unlikely to be better. Also, we’ve previously covered recalls in pet foods due to high vitamin D. Real foods have nutrients balanced by nature, making over-consumption of vitamins extremely unlikely.
How were vitamins discovered?
Believe it or not, the history of vitamins overlaps extensively with conquest and warfare because disease and nutrient deficiencies often killed more soldiers than enemies. In 1740, Commodore George Anson of the British Navy, was tasked with disrupting Spanish assets in South America. He led a group of 8 ships with over 1800 seamen down the horn of South America, up the Pacific coast to Mexico and then west to China before heading back to Britain.
Tragically, only 188 of the original 1,854 men survived, as scurvy claimed the lives of most of the men. The news garnered a lot of attention in Europe and sparked the search for a cure. By 1753, James Lind, a naval doctor, published A Treatise on Scurvy, which recommended using lemons and limes to avoid the disease. However, it wasn’t until 1910 that the first vitamin, thiamine, was isolated and identified by Japanese scientist Umetaro Suzuki. It took until 1928 for vitamin C to be isolated, and 1933 for it to be chemically synthesized.
Although James Lind officially discovered the treatment of scurvy in 1753, there is evidence that ancient Egyptians knew that limited fruit and vegetables could lead to scurvy thousands of years earlier. Also, Spanish explorers observed the curative effects of citrus as early as 1497. Changing practices in response to new scientific discoveries is very slow.
However, by the 1940, as the world ramped up in response to war, investment in vitamin synthesis followed suit. Governments wanted to ensure that soldiers and civilians had access to low-cost nutrition. Companies like Merck, Hoffman-La Roche and others began to mass produce synthetic vitamins while governments used them to fortify staple foods like flour and milk.
Synthetic vitamins have always been about making nutritious food cheaper and NOT about making people healthier.
Conclusion
If you supplement with anything, supplement with real food (our exception for people and dogs is fish oil, which is natural, and minerals like calcium and magnesium for people). Getting nutrients from real, whole foods is better than synthetic versions for many reasons: natural nutrients are more digestible, synthetic vitamins are often more toxic AND contamination during manufacturing is very common. Furthermore, some synthetic vitamins are associated with greater chances of death in people. If you can, get your pups’ (and your own) nutrients exclusively from real foods.