Chelated Minerals in Dog Food

Chelated minerals in dog food are a little more bioavailable and may be a welcome addition to certain dog food recipes. But at this point, there is a lack of information to determine if organic trace elements are really superior compared to inorganic minerals.

Contents

What Are Chelated Minerals?

Trace minerals are essential nutrients.

Most dog food recipes contain added minerals.

They are used to prevent mineral deficiencies when no one can guarantee that enough will be ingested from real ingredients.

The mineral content of commercial dog food in many cases even exceeds the levels a dog technically needs in his diet.

Manufacturers can choose from a variety of different mineral supplements to make their recipes complete and balanced. For one, they can use inorganic or organic mineral compounds.

Most trace minerals used in dog foods are inorganic compounds like potassium iodide or zinc sulfate. These are relatively easy to produce and inexpensive to administer.

But if a trace mineral is linked to a containing molecule containing carbon it’s called an organic mineral.

Organic minerals are also called proteinated minerals, chelated minerals, or complexes linked to an amino acid.

Organic trace minerals in dog food can have many names:

[mineral] amino acid chelate
[mineral] amino acid complex
[mineral] glycinate
[mineral] lysine complex
[mineral] glycine complex
[mineral] methionine complex
[mineral] chelate of hydroxy analogue of methionine
[mineral] methionine hydroxy analogue chelate
[mineral] methionine hydroxy analogue chelate
[mineral] proteinate
chelated [mineral] proteinate
etc.

Some organic minerals are bound to sugar, e.g. [mineral] polysaccharide or [mineral] polysaccharide complex.

Benefits Of Chelated Proteins

Chelate structures are a specific class of organically bound trace elements. In dog food, the term is often used as a collective term to describe all kinds of proteinated or organically bound minerals.

And chelated minerals have a higher absorbability.

Consumers praise them as high-quality minerals outperforming their inorganic counterparts. And they are a little more expensive compared to traditional mineral supplements.

But since organic minerals get absorbed more efficiently, the manufacturer has to use less of them. This saves money and makes mineral balance easier to maintain overall.

And higher bioavailability does not mean your dog is getting more minerals or if this would even be better for him.

I mean, why should your dog benefit from more minerals than he actually needs, or from absorbing them faster?

And secondly, your dog’s body regulates the absorption and excretion of minerals to maintain homeostatic balance. For example, zinc proteinate doesn’t increase plasma zinc in dogs^[1].

Many of the nutrient requirements established for pets were originally estimated based on data from livestock feeding.

And chelated minerals also found their way from farm animal diets into our dog’s bowl. But remember, livestock is usually fed for growth and performance, not for well-being and longevity.

And to this day, the bioavailability of different trace minerals and their interactions in pets are not fully understood. And the processes involved in mineral digestion can get quite complicated.

Inorganic minerals can dissociate in the gastrointestinal tract and can interact with other substances. But little is known of the metabolic fate or effects of proteinated minerals.

And at this point, there is little research done looking for the effects of chelated minerals in dog food. In one study, chelated zinc for dogs increased the bioavailability of phosphorus^[1].

So it’s hard to say if there are additional effects, benefits, or even downsides associated with chelated minerals in dog food.

At the moment, there is little data to support health claims.

What Are Chelated Minerals?

Benefits Of Chelated Proteins

Further Reading