3 Things You May Not Know About Nutritional Yeast

Nutritional Yeast…. why do we use it in our recipes?

Often referred to as a superfood, the nutrient yeast ‘Nutritional yeast’ (or Nooch)  is absolutely choc full of healthy amino acids for body building and maintenance. In fact, it contains 48g of protein per 100g – thats almost double the amount of protein found in most meats!

Nooch contains the important micro-minerals zinc and selenium.

Nooch is a world-wide flavour favourite,  added in vegan sauces, dressings, pasta bakes and pizza toppings … because a generous sprinkle of it gives the meal it is being added to a delicious, natural, cheesy flavour.

Why Nooch? ⭐️

A superfood that gives a natural and healthy cheesy flavour – without any need for dairy? It was for us the most obvious thing to add into our recipes, and in fact be the star of the show ⭐️

When you combine nutritional yeast with our special mix of real thyme, basil, marjoram and oregano to makes our healthy kibble taste like cheesy-herby pizza bites! 🧀 🌿

Is Nutritional Yeast Related to the Yeast That Causes Skin Infections in Dogs? 🌱

Some confusion can understandably arise from the fact that both are have ‘yeast’ in their name! Happily, our delicious, healthy edible nutritional yeast and the malassezia yeast that are found on the skin couldn’t be more different.

Nutritional yeast is an inactivated yeast, not capable of multiplying on the skin, with incredible nutritional properties that make it a vegan superfood.

Also, eating nutritional yeast in the diet does not predispose to yeast skin infections. In fact, a recent published paper concluded dogs routinely eating nutritional yeast in their diet actually exhibited significant health benefits. 

Malassezia… What are they and how do they differ from nutritional yeast?

The yeast found on the skin  (including in the in ear canals as these are also lined with specialised skin cells) are called Malassezia. Unlike the inactivated Nooch, with all its helpful nutritional properties, Malassezia are living micro-organisms capable of multiplying quickly on the skin if the setting is right.

Low numbers of malassezia yeast are part of the normal flora on the skin in dogs – just like the normal bacteria on the skin. These normal numbers of yeast & bacteria usually live ‘in harmony’ and in balance on the skin – where they produce no  lesions, no itchiness and no infections. In fact, the bacteria and yeast help to keep each other in check. As such we call both these micro-organisms ‘’commensals’’ – it means they are expected to be there and they’re usually not doing any harm.

 Malassezia yeast problems can occur when there is a change in the skin (or as we vets like to call it, the ‘skin barrier’ as that is essentially what skin is to the rest of the body) and the conditions make it favourable for the Malassezia yeast to start to multiply quickly.

What kind of conditions cause Malassezia to start to multiply quickly?

If the skin gets damaged for instance – if it is scratched alot or kept wet for a long time by chewing or licking then the yeast can find this a very helpful moist environment and start to multiply. Very commonly, if a dog is allergic to something he or she has eaten or come into contact with (this can even be through inhalation!) then the skin cells get upset and either bacteria or Malassezia yeast (often one of them gets the upper-hand but sometimes it is both at the same time) take the opportunity to multiply… which causes the skin to get warmer and wetter and more itchy ….which only serves to make the bacteria or Malassezia yeast even more happy… and multiply more… and it’s an ongoing cycle. This then becomes an infection.

 The dog’s skin becomes more irritated and itchy and the dog becomes more unhappy as the infection progresses. Often this means head flapping and ear scratching if this overgrowth is happening in the ear canals, and scratching, licking and chewing if it’s an overgrowth on the body, paws or legs or tail.

Inactivated nutritional yeast (nooch!) does not cause skin yeast infections. Even if you were to place nutritional yeast directly onto damaged or inflamed dog skin, these inactivated yeast could not multiply – nutritional yeast is simply a good nutrient source when eaten. 

The Future is Bright with Nutrient Yeasts 🌎 🌿

As more and more of us choose a plant-based sustainable lifestyle and the food manufacturing world looks for ways to produce nutrients for us and our animals in  sustainable ways – the ease of scalability of nutrient-dense yeasts like nutritional yeast, makes it very likely that we will be seeing the word ‘yeast’ more and more in our foods over the next few years.

Our wheat-free vegan  Noochy Poochy recipes naturally omit 6 of the 7 most common canine food allergens.

We know Omega fatty acids are helpful for the skin,  so with our Omega 6:3 ratio of 4:1 … many owners report an improvement in skin health