Sweet potatoes are starchy root vegetables with a sweet taste. In dog food, they are used as a novel source of carbohydrates.
Contents
About Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potato tubers (Ipomoea batatas) or simply batata are native to the tropical regions of the Americas, but today they are grown throughout many tropical and warm-temperate regions[2].
Raw sweet potatoes including the leaves are edible (though we don’t really recommend feeding them) since they don’t belong in the nightshade family and are not closely related to the potato.
Sweet potatoes are also not yams although varieties of sweet potatoes are called like that in some parts of North America.
Sweet potatoes are regarded as a low-cost low-maintenance crop, they can be grown in poor soils with little fertilizer or pesticides.
While they are often used for human food a big chunk of sweet potatoes goes into livestock feed, to the starch industry or is used as an energy crop in fuel ethanol production.
The many varieties differ in size, shape, flesh or peel color with orange sweet potatoes being the most common type in the US.
Sweet Potato Nutrients
The nutrient composition of sweet potatoes can differ by cultivar. Overall, sweet potatoes provide less energy, are low in fat, and are a poor source of protein compared to many cereal grains.
But they are richer in nutrients such as vitamins A, C, and B6. Sweet potatoes also contain some minerals as well as sugars explaining their sweet taste.
The fiber content provides both soluble and insoluble fibers such as pectins, hemicellulose, and cellulose[2].
Orange tubers can provide lots of beta-carotene, a vitamin A precursor which is sometimes used as a natural dye.
| Nutrients in 100 g[3] | Sweet Potatoes |
|---|---|
| Water | 77.3 g |
| Energy | 86 kcal |
| Protein | 1.57 g |
| Fat | 0.05 g |
| Ash | 0.99 g |
| Carohydrates | 20.1 g |
| Starch | 12.6 g |
| Total dietary fiber | 3 g |
| Sugars | 4.18 g |
| Amino acids | |
| Arginine | 0.055 g |
| Histidine | 0.031 g |
| Isoleucine | 0.055 g |
| Leucine | 0.092 g |
| Lysine | 0.066 g |
| Methionine | 0.029 g |
| Threonine | 0.083 g |
| Phenylalanine | 0.089 g |
| Tryptophan | 0.031 g |
| Valine | 0.086 g |
| Fatty acids | |
| Saturated | 0.018 g |
| Monounsaturated | 0.001 g |
| Polyunsaturated | 0.014 g |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg |
| Minerals | |
| Calcium | 30 mg |
| Iron | 0.61 mg |
| Magnesium | 25 mg |
| Phosphorus | 47 mg |
| Potassium | 337 mg |
| Sodium | 55 mg |
| Zinc | 0.3 mg |
| Copper | 0.151 mg |
| Manganese | 0.258 mg |
| Selenium | 0.6 µg |
| Vitamins | |
| Vitamin C | 2.4 mg |
| Vitamin A | 709 µg |
| Beta-carotene | 8510 µg |
| Vitamin E | 0.26 mg |
| Vitamin K | 1.8 µg |
| Thiamin | 0.078 mg |
| Riboflavin | 0.061mg |
| Niacin | 0.557 mg |
| Pantothenic acid | 0.8 mg |
| Vitamin B6 | 0.209 mg |
| Vitamin B12 | 0 µg |
| Folate | 11 µg |
| Choline | 12.3 mg |
Sweet Potatoes in Dog Food
Sweet Potato is one of the most widely used specialty crops in pet foods. About 22,800 tons of sweet potatoes are used annually[1].
Once you remove the water, dried sweet potatoes provide a high carbohydrate content of about 80-90%. For this reason, they are often included in grain-free diets as an alternative to cereal.
In general, they are regarded as a high-quality energy source that is safe for dogs to eat and adds some natural color and flavor.
But although they are getting more and more common, their use in dog food seems to be poorly studied. At least, there is not much info to be found compared to other novel ingredients.
Further Reading
[1] Pet Food Production and Ingredient Analysis (PDF). 2020. Institute for Feed Education and Research (IFEEDER), North American Renderers Association (NARA), Pet Food Institute (PFI)
[2] Feedipedia: Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas). 2018
[3] U.S. Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central. 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov