Wellness Beef & Chicken

4 ingredients in this list are ones we hold sourced evidence on , and 1 of them is genuinely contested rather than merely unpopular online.

• Potato · ingredient 6ContestedA starchy tuber used as the carbohydrate base in many grain-free foods (it is a vegetable, not a cereal grain). The FDA's open 2018 investigation into diet-associated canine DCM listed potatoes 'in various forms' as main ingredients of interest alongside pulses such as peas and lentils.
• Tapioca · ingredient 7NeutralA nearly pure starch extracted from the cassava root, used as a carbohydrate base and binder in grain-free foods (it is a root starch, not a cereal grain). Because it is almost entirely starch with little protein, tapioca contributes essentially no amino acids and is not implicated in the taurine hypothesis; it was not a highlighted ingredient in the FDA's DCM investigation, which focused on pulses and potatoes.
• Guar Gum · ingredient 11NeutralA soluble, viscous fiber from the guar bean used in small amounts to thicken and stabilize foods, mostly wet formulas. At higher dietary inclusion it can lower the digestibility of dry matter and protein in dogs, but it also produces metabolic effects such as reduced post-meal insulin and cholesterol; at the low levels used as a thickener these effects are minor.
• Xanthan Gum · ingredient 15NeutralA fermentation-derived polysaccharide used as a thickener and stabilizer, mainly in wet and gravy-style foods. EFSA's 2017 re-evaluation found no safety concern and concluded no numerical ADI was needed; direct studies in dogs are limited, but at the small amounts used it acts as a non-absorbed, largely fermentable fiber.