Study Finds Improved Vitamin D Levels in Plant-Based Dogs

A 2024 study in PLOS ONE shows that dogs fed a plant-based dog kibble displayed normal, healthy animo acid levels and heart health. 

Fifteen clinically healthy dogs were enrolled in the California study and evaluated over the course of 0, 6 and 12 months while eating a plant-based diet made with pea protein. Complete blood count, blood chemistry, plasma amino acids, cardiac biomarkers, and serum vitamin concentrations were regularly measured. According to the study's authors, "Domestic dogs can maintain health on complete and well-balanced canine plant-based nutrition."

The study showed that consuming the plant-based diet may have helped dogs with vitamin D deficiency. At the start of the study, almost half of the dogs presented with insufficient levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. After 12 months of the study's plant-based dog food, without extra supplementation, all dogs vitamin D levels normalized. 

The study reads, "This study is the most comprehensive and longest known canine plant-based nutrition investigation to date and provides clinically relevant evidence-based nutrition data and new knowledge on outcomes in clinically healthy dogs who thrive without consumption of animal-derived ingredients." 

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