Lotus Regular Bites Dog Food DOG FOOD Review

With a score of 5.8/10, Lotus Regular Bites is a moderate risk dog food. We base this on the criteria of dogfoodreviews.com. There are 14 recipes with 24% average protein. There are 41% average carbohydrates as calculated. 

Lotus uses a baking process for its dry food recipes. It takes about 10 minutes to cook each batch of kibble. This means heat does not destroy nutrients. This is in contrast to extrusion. It uses a high heat process to make kibble. It also requires starch for the process. The concern is that Lotus recipes have a high level of carbohydrates. They’re not needed for processing.

Carbohydrates are excessively high. They are almost twice the amount of protein. Lotus doesn’t use corn, wheat, and soy. Carbs are from potato starch, sweet potatoes, rice, rye, barley, oats and peas. Excessive carbohydrates are an indicator of low quality foods as they’re often used to keep costs down. Large amounts of starch can increase insulin levels, cause obesity and negatively impact gut balance. A processed food high in carbohydrates is usually low in protein as is the case here.  

The line also loses ingredient quality points for plant protein. It’s a low cost substitute for quality animal protein. Animal sources of protein are preferred. They contain a wider array of amino acids and are more digestible. One recipe has unnamed animal protein. It’s often a less expensive source. You want to see beef, salmon or chicken, not animal, fish or poultry. 

This line has excessive added vitamins and minerals. This is concerning as these foods are minimally processed, as noted. Added nutrients usually reflect poor quality or overly processed ingredients. Ideally, these nutrients should come from whole food sources. Vitamin and mineral excesses, especially vitamin D and copper, can also result from vitamin premixes. 

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. 

Lotus ingredients are GMO-free. That doesn’t mean they are pesticide-free. These recipes use ingredients known for high pesticide/herbicide residues in the top 5 ingredients. Pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers pose a significant health risk to plants, animals and soils. Foods with the largest reported amount of residue are penalized. These include crops that are known to be spray-dried with glyphosate.  If they used organic produce it would avoid pesticide risk and GMOs.  

Several recipes have rice, which carries a risk of arsenic contamination. This is a significant concern with rice since it naturally absorbs arsenic that can contaminate the water it’s grown in. Arsenic is linked to chronic health issues. 

The following concerns 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. 

Some recipes contain glam ingredients. These are expensive or desirable ingredients like cranberries. They’re added to appeal to consumers. When listed below salt, they appear in minuscule amounts. They have little or no nutritional value. 

Most of the fish products used by Lotus are wild-caught. This is preferable as wild fish is more nutritious. It also has a better fatty acid balance than farmed fish. Lotus doesn’t provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio. This is true of most companies. It’s a concern because AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1. Diets rich in omega-6 fats can cause chronic inflammation.