Consumers not only want great tasting food for their pets, they want to keep their pets healthy and happy and because of this, functional ingredients are being demanded more than ever before. Functional ingredients are natural ingredients that have health-promoting, energy-boosting and/or disease-preventing benefits. Functional ingredients go beyond providing adequate nutrients.
Functional ingredients are used in pet food diets to support such things as heart health, weight management, joint and bone health, and healthy immune systems. But consumers also demand simple ingredient lists so it’s important for pet food manufacturers to carefully select ingredients that will shorten the ingredient list while providing added benefits.
Through education consumers can learn to recognize which ingredients in their pet’s food are considered functional.
Many pet food bags will make claims about their functional ingredients right on the front of the bag to easily explain the benefits of that particular diet. They use these ingredients as marketing and educational tools. Claims like “enriched with vitamins and minerals to help support a healthy dog,” “loaded with antioxidants,” “superfood for life-long health,” “omega fatty acids and Vitamin E for healthy skin and shiny coat” “high fiber for intestinal health,” or “contains glutamine for healthy joints.”
An important thing to note as a consumer is that ingredients are listed in order of predominance by weight. So paying attention to the first three to five ingredients will allow you to determine which ingredients bring the most nutritional value. Selecting diets that use wholesome, natural ingredients will benefit your pets the most.
As pet food manufacturers tailor their formulas to meet the growing demand for healthy and wholesome pet food, functional ingredients will continue to play an important role.
Want to learn more about ingredients? Many pet food companies provide an ingredient resource on their websites to help consumers understand what ingredients are used and why they are used in their pet food bags. Diamond, Nature's Variety, Wellness, Zukes and many other companies do a great job educating their consumers.