IAMS Dry DOG FOOD Review

With a score of 2.5/10, IAMS Dry dog food is considered a high risk dog food. These 12 recipes have average protein content of 25% and high carbohydrates that average 50% as calculated. 

The company states it doesn’t use wheat or soy in its dry recipes, but the carbohydrate content is excessively high, even for kibble. Most recipes include a variation of other grains and starches like corn, rice, barley and sorghum in the first 5 ingredients. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates but they are used for energy, texture and taste. Starch is also required for extrusion in dry foods. Excessive carbohydrate is an indicator of lower food quality as it can be used to reduce manufacturing cost. Foods that are rich in carbohydrates can increase insulin levels, increase the risk of obesity and cause unwanted changes to the gut microbiome. 

This line is lower in protein, and the fact there are added amino acids can reflect lower quality protein that doesn’t provide these nutrients naturally.

There is no information on the website about the sourcing or quality of ingredients. But it should be noted that an excessive amount of vitamins and minerals have been added to fulfill the nutrient needs of these recipes. This usually reflects poor quality or overly processed ingredients. 

Vitamin and mineral excesses, especially vitamin D and copper, can also result from added vitamin premixes, so it’s preferable that most or all vitamins and minerals come from real foods. 

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. 

Other quality concerns include unnamed animal protein, which is a sign of low quality. These recipes contain fish oil and poultry fat that can be made from any type of fish or poultry. Unnamed animal ingredients are often a less expensive ingredient that can be made from rendered waste of many proteins. 

On the ingredient safety side, kibble is ultra processed costing a loss in points across the line. 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.

These recipes also use ingredients known to contain higher pesticide/herbicide residues, like barley and beets, often in the top 5 ingredients. Crops that are spray-dried with Roundup, leaves them with more glyphosate/herbicide residue than other crops, even genetically modified ones. Glyphosate is an antibiotic that can kill beneficial gut bacteria and has been linked to cancer and other diseases.  

Corn is a GMO crop included in the top 5 ingredients of each recipe. There are limited safety studies on genetically modified and Roundup Ready crops, although they are lacking in nutrients compared to non-GMO foods. GMO crops also strip nutrients from soils, require increased pesticide risk and may be involved in bee die-off. 

Recipes in this line contain natural flavor, which is added to make processed food more palatable. But natural flavor is often either MSG or animal digest, both low quality ingredients with limited safety studies. 

The use of rice in several recipes costs food safety points because of potential arsenic contamination. This is a significant concern with rice since it naturally absorbs arsenic which can contaminate the water it’s grown in. Arsenic is linked to chronic health issues. Finally, caramel color is added to foods to make them look more appealing to consumers. They are often used to hide the grey color of rendered ingredients and are linked to health issues. 

These actions don’t cost points but should be noted. There is ingredient splitting in these recipes. That’s the practice of splitting ingredients into subcategories to make them appear lower on the list. This can also move more desirable protein ingredients higher. These recipes also include glam ingredients like carrots that are listed after salt, which means they’re included in minimal amounts that don’t provide any nutritional benefit. 

These recipes don’t specify whether the fish oil is from farmed or wild caught fish. Farmed fish is less nutritious than wild caught fish and does not contain the same healthy fatty acid balance. 

Lastly, IAMS doesn’t provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio, which is a concern since AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1.