Food scores are based on ingredient quality and safety. For more information, view our evaluation criteria.
Lotus Canned has a score of 6.4/10. These are the highest scoring Lotus dog foods. Lotus Canned is a moderate risk dog food. We base this on the criteria of dogfoodreviews.com. There are 14 recipes with 42% average protein. This is good to see in a canned dog food. There are 23% average carbohydrates as calculated. This is high for canned dog food.
Lotus doesn’t use corn, wheat, and soy. Carbs are from potato starch, sweet potatoes and pea flour. 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.
This line has excessive added vitamins and minerals. 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.
Recipes have inflammatory seed oil. It’s rich in omega-6 fatty acids. This can cause systemic and gut inflammation.
These canned products are made in small batches. They don’t use processing aids like carrageenan, guar gum, or xanthan gum. Canned dog foods are highly processed. There are several stages of heating. This can cause a loss of nutrients.
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.
The following concerns don’t cost points but should be noted.
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.
Some recipes contain coconut oil. This can be harmful to gut health. Coconut oil has been shown to cause undesirable changes in the gut lining.
Most of the fish products used 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.
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