Nutrients are vitamins and minerals that your pet’s body needs to survive and thrive. Synthetic nutrients or isolated nutrients are nutrients that are not derived naturally from food. They’re made artificially through industrial processes and are designed to be almost chemically identical to organic nutrients. However, your pet’s body reacts differently to synthetic nutrients because of the difference in the production process.

Synthetic nutrients are not as easily absorbed as organic nutrients, for one thing. That’s because organic nutrients are combined with a spectrum of other vitamins and minerals and enzymes that help the body with absorption. It’s also easier for your pet’s body to recognize and purposely absorb organic nutrients. While there is a wealth of scientific evidence to support the efficacy of organic nutrients in preventing heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and early death, the evidence to support synthetics is weak, inconsistent, and insufficient in volume.

Another issue with synthetics is that they’re added to commercial pet foods in questionable amounts to enable those brands to promote their product as containing those nutrients. When supplementing in that way, you run the risk of overdosing pets who absorb synthetics better than others. The symptoms of vitamin and mineral overdose are often the same or worse than the symptoms of deficiency. Shinto’s pet formulas contain naturally-occurring trace elements like iron, zinc, and everything else your pet needs in just the right amounts to support his immune, cardiovascular, digestive, endocrine, respiratory, musculoskeletal, and other systems.