Green tea extract is derived from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis bush. Dried green tea leaves are used to make the popular hot beverage, and the extracts play a central role in herbal medicine. More recently, purified extracts have found favor as a nutraceutical and food antioxidant preservative.
So, how many current dog and cat food recipes are using green tea extract? Using the ingredient search of this web site, we’ve come up with the following numbers.
In dry dog food, green tea extract is included in 9.7 percent of the recipes, In wet dog food, green tea extract is listed in less than 1 percent of the recipes and lentils at 0.4 percent.
Dry cat food follows a similar pattern with green tea extract in nearly 8.9 percent of the recipes in the database. It isn’t found in any of the wet cat food.
For more on green tea extract in pet food, read Dr. Greg Aldrich’s latest Ingredient Issues column, Green tea extract: is this herb safe in dog, cat diets?
