I AND LOVE AND YOU NAKED ESSENTIALS DOG FOOD Review

The Naked Essentials kibbles include 2 ancient grains and 3 grain free recipes (one for puppies). With an average score of 3.6, this line is considered a high risk dog food. 

The line loses ingredient quality points for its level of carbohydrates, calculated as an average 33% across the line. Dogs have no nutritional need for carbohydrates, and excessive carbohydrate is an indicator of food quality as it can be used to reduce manufacturing cost. Foods that are high in carbs can raise insulin and cause obesity, and may cause changes to gur bacteria.  

There are excessive added vitamins and minerals in the recipes, which reduces the ingredient quality score because it’s best that nutrients come from the whole food ingredients without the need for fortification.  It’s also worth noting that the line contains sodium selenite as a source of selenium. Dogs need selenium, and it’s usually added in very small amounts. However, some research suggests that sodium selenite may be associated with potential toxicity, so selenium yeast is the preferred form of this mineral. 

There are also added amino acids. When there are 2 or more, this is usually a sign of lower quality foods that rely on less complete plant sources of protein instead of animal protein.

Another ingredient quality concern is the use of seed oils like sunflower seed oil. Seed oils are highly processed and are high in omega-6 fatty acids which have a pro-inflammatory effect. The foods also contain an unspecified animal protein in the form of fish oil. Unnamed animal proteins (like “fish” instead of salmon, herring, or sardine, for example) are usually lower quality. There’s also no mention of whether the fish oil is from wild caught or farmed fish. Wild caught fish are more nutritious and have a better fatty acid balance.

When it comes to ingredient safety, the score is reduced because, like all kibbles, I and Love and You Naked Essentials line is ultra-processed. The individual ingredients in dry dog foods are heated several times during processing, which can cause a significant loss of enzymes, vitamins, amino acids and phytonutrients. Processed foods are also linked to higher mortality rates in many species. 

Naked Essentials loses significant ingredient safety points for multiple ingredients known to be high pesticides/herbicide foods, like oats (oatmeal), millet, and legumes like lentils, garbanzo beans, peas in some recipes, sometimes in the top 5 ingredients. These crops are typically sprayed with Roundup before harvesting and are higher in Roundup than most other foods. The company does state their kibble is all non-GMO, but non-GMO doesn’t mean pesticide-free. It’s also a difficult claim to make if you don’t know what the meat animals were fed.  

The line also loses ingredient safety points for natural flavor, which is often either animal digest or MSG, low quality ingredients with limited safety studies. 

It’s worth noting that Naked Essentials uses ingredient splitting on their label. Dog food ingredients must be listed by weight, from highest to lowest. For example, dried peas (or ground peas), pea protein and pea starch are listed individually. There is little difference between these ingredients but listing them separately moves them further down the label to make consumers believe there is more meat (and less peas) in the food than there probably is.  

The grain free recipes also contain some glam ingredients. These are healthy sounding ingredients listed below the salt on the ingredient list, like fish oil, dried carrots, dried chicory root in this case. Because they’re below the salt on the ingredient list, this foods are present in such small quantities that they don’t provide any health benefits. 

It’s good to note that the line contains added probiotics and the label guarantees the amount of CFU (colony forming units). 

Finally, the food does not provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio, which is a concern since AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1.