Effect of feeding thoroughbred horses a high unsaturated or saturated vegetable oil supplemented diet for 6 months following a 10 month fat acclimation.
- Journal Article
Summary
The research paper is a study on the impact of feeding horses diets that are supplemented with either saturated or unsaturated vegetable oil for an extended period of time. The primary aim was to see how these diets affect the health and performance of thoroughbred horses.
Research Overview and Methodology
- The experiment involved eight Thoroughbred horses who were subjected to two different diet treatments for 10 months, followed by a six-month period of a diet composed predominantly of fortified sweet feed supplemented with either saturated (S) or unsaturated (Un) vegetable oil.
- The dietary fat formed about 19% of the Digestible Energy (DE) with around 12% coming from either unsaturated or saturated vegetable oil. This was then increased after the 10-month period to approximately 27% DE from fat and around 20% from the Un or S vegetable oil.
- Throughout this period, the horses were also subjected to regular standardized treadmill exercise tests (STEP) and duplicate oral glucose tolerance tests (TOL).
Results
- There were no significant changes in insulin or lactate responses to the STEP tests regardless of the type of dietary treatment or the time the tests were carried out.
- A significant effect was observed of time and treatment on glucose responses; however, no significant differences were noted between the treatments in the first and the last tests.
- No immediate effects on normal haematological parameters were identified.
- There was a significant correlation (P < 0.05) between dietary treatment and cholesterol and triglyceride levels, with higher concentrations found in the group receiving the saturated oil diet.
- Linoleic acid, the main fatty acid found in the plasma lipid classes, had slightly higher concentrations in the unsaturated diet group. Resting plasma fatty acid content was generally higher in the saturated diet group (P < 0.05).
Conclusion
The study concluded that there were no detectable negative effects of feeding horses with diets supplemented with either saturated or unsaturated vegetable oils. Both the diets showed no significant impact on their insulin, lactate, and overall hematological parameters, while a slight increase in cholesterol and triglyceride levels were noted in horses on a saturated diet. The study implies that incorporating saturated or unsaturated vegetable oils in a horse’s diet does not pose any significant health concerns, and there are no apparent drawbacks of feeding a saturated vegetable oil-supplemented diet compared to an unsaturated one.
Cite This Article
Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Equine Studies Group, WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition, Mowbray, Leicestershire, UK.
MeSH Terms
- Adaptation, Physiological
- Animal Feed
- Animals
- Dietary Fats / administration & dosage
- Dietary Fats / pharmacology
- Dietary Supplements
- Exercise Test / veterinary
- Fatty Acids / blood
- Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / administration & dosage
- Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / pharmacology
- Female
- Glucose Tolerance Test / veterinary
- Hair
- Hoof and Claw
- Horses / physiology
- Male
- Physical Conditioning, Animal
- Plant Oils / administration & dosage
- Plant Oils / pharmacology
- Time Factors
Citations
This article has been cited 2 times.- Potter SJ, Bamford NJ, Baskerville CL, Harris PA, Bailey SR. Comparison of Feed Digestibility between Ponies, Standardbreds and Andalusian Horses Fed Three Different Diets.. Vet Sci 2021 Dec 31;9(1).
- Patterson Rosa L, Mallicote MF, Long MT, Brooks SA. Metabogenomics reveals four candidate regions involved in the pathophysiology of Equine Metabolic Syndrome.. Mol Cell Probes 2020 Oct;53:101620.