Starch in dog food | Student led inquiry

There is debate as to whether dogs are carnivores or omnivores.  Some foods might be more appropriate than others for the digestive system of canines.  Student Morgan Morris organized a biology laboratory interactive in which he gathered multiple brands of dog food for starch testing.

Note:  This was not a laboratory-grade experiment but simply a survey of starch content utilizing potassium iodide as detection for starch in the dog food samples.  We were looking for a range of black to lighter color gradations, which we believed were visual evidence of differing levels of starch in the dog food.  The visual inspection was quite subjective with no established color scale for comparison utilized.  We performed 6 different trials. It was a loosely controlled experiment; basically a simple inquiry.

Sample #5, and to an intermittent extent, samples #6, #9 and #12, illustrated a “browner” tint as compared to the jet black results on the other samples.  Sample #5 had the most consistent color difference as compared to #6,  #9 and #12.  Approximately 5 out of 6 trials of sample #5 illustrated a markedly color difference from the jet black color of the other samples tested.

We concluded in this brief experiment, that sample #5, and possibly samples #6, #9 and #12 contained less starch.   Student Jeff Collins proposed that the browner samples may have a higher fat content, thus potentially blocking the effectiveness of the iodine starch test.  The brief discussion regarding the results were recorded in the video:  “Starch in dog food | Student led inquiry.”

Your thoughts?

Recommended by Morgan:

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

Note:  The numbers in this list do not correlate with the numbers in the experiment we performed.  They also do not indicate order of preference.  They were just meant to showcase “likability” and nutritional aspects of the foods.

Added 9-26-2019

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October 18, 2017 Barnes Disclaimer