Pet Safety / Compounds / Daidzein

Is Daidzein safe for dogs and cats?

Low risk for dogs

Not veterinary or professional safety advice, and not a substitute for a veterinarian — consult one about your animal. Full disclaimer →

Present in soy-based pet foods; no reported toxicity.

What is daidzein?

The IUPAC name is 7-hydroxy-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)chromen-4-one.

Also known as: 4',7-Dihydroxyisoflavone, Daidzeol, 7-hydroxy-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4H-chromen-4-one, 7,4'-Dihydroxyisoflavone.

IUPAC name: 7-hydroxy-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)chromen-4-one
CAS number: 486-66-8
Molecular formula: C15H10O4
Molecular weight: 254.24 g/mol
SMILES: Oc1ccc(-c2coc3cc(O)ccc3c2=O)cc1
PubChem CID: 5281708

Risk for dogs

Low risk

Present in soy-based pet foods; no reported toxicity.

Regulatory consensus

2 regulatory and scientific bodies have classified Daidzein. The classifications differ — that's the data.

Agency	Year	Classification	Notes
FDA	1999	GRAS as component of soy foods
EFSA	2015	No safety concern at dietary levels

Regulators apply different standards of evidence — animal-data weighting, exposure-pattern assumptions, epidemiological power thresholds — which is why two scientific bodies can review the same data and reach different conclusions. The disagreement is the data.

Where pets encounter daidzein

Food
Dietary Supplement

Safer alternatives

Lower-risk approaches that achieve a similar outcome to Daidzein:

S-equol supplement (direct metabolite)
Trade-offs: Only 30-50% of Western populations produce equol naturally from daidzein. Direct supplementation bypasses this. Limited clinical data.

Relative cost: 3-5×

Frequently asked questions

Is daidzein safe for pets?

Present in soy-based pet foods; no reported toxicity.

Why do regulators disagree about daidzein?

Daidzein has been classified by 2 agencies including FDA, EFSA, with differing conclusions. Regulators apply different standards of evidence (animal data weighting, exposure-pattern assumptions, epidemiological power thresholds), which is why two scientific bodies can review the same data and reach different conclusions. See the regulatory consensus table on this page for the full picture.

See Daidzein in the pets app

Look up products containing daidzein, compare to alternatives, and explore the full data record.

Open in pets View raw API data

Sources (1)

Reference data, not professional advice. Aggregates publicly available regulatory and scientific data; not a substitute for veterinary, medical, legal, or regulatory advice. Why we built ALETHEIA →