A couple of questions on fats/oils

[Doc-t]

As far as I know, there is little written about or research on oils being added to horses diets in regards to them and Omega 3 or 6 formation. The addition of fat to horse diets was looked at in the 1980’s as a way to provide fuel to working horses. This included the addition of corn oil and animal fat. The result was that ANY fat added to the diet would and could be used as a fuel source for energy production.

However, back then, no one looked at what fats (Ω3 and Ω6) were produced. In humans the Ω6 are considered “inflammatory” but it must be realized that inflammation is necessary in the course of life.

I look at what are the fat sources for horses. In nature, it is the digestion of cellulose by the hind gut microbes that create the short chain fatty acids (volatile fatty acids – butyrate, pyruvate and acetate). How these are converted into medium and long chain FA’s in horses is not well understood – at least in what I have found. I assume that the horse will create these varieties of FA’s as is needed for their uses (fuel, structures, processes). And frankly I’m not sure I really care other than that they do!

What bothers me about feeding horses today is the addition of seed oils (corn, soybean, canola, sunflower, flax, and any other seed oil) to the horse diets and the effects of these PUFA’s to the gut. All we can do is assume that the inflammatory effects would be similar to humans including their binding to LPS and these combinations leaking through the gut wall and inflaming places like joints (as they do in humans). The evidence is the improvement of senior horses (>26 years) in their loss of stiffness and their willingness to run outside like youngsters again.

To answer your questions, I am extrapolating my thoughts from information gained from experimentation of fats and oils on lab animals and humans. There just is no money (or return on investment) for studying this in horses. As a horseman and a veterinarian, I must assume that through evolution horses developed the mechanisms to provide what they need. Adding foods (fats and oils in this case) that are not available in nature in an effort to “improve” the horse in a sport is fraught with perils as evidenced in the problems we are seeing now.

I podcast either this week or next is a “book report” on a 1991 text called “Horse Feeding And Nutrition.” I will talk a bit about this issue of where our information on feeding horses came from and as it turns out, I was among the best researching this at Cornell. But then the grain companies took over the research and with it came bias and noise (the subject of another upcoming blog).

[AngelaM]

Thanks!

So as I understand it omega 3 is also a pufa and it is the relative ratio of 6 versus 3 that is part of the issue as I understand they bind the same receptors and seed oils having so much 6 relative to the 3 leads to increased inflammation. I am also under the impression that other fats can bind and transport the LPS fragments into the rest of the body (ie saturated or mufa-I would think horses have a limited intake of saturated) and in horses I wonder if the FAs made by the bacteria in the hind gut could do the same.

I am thinking the lectins exacerbate the permeability.

Thanks for breaking everything down in such detail. It’s fascinating.

You mentioned omega 3s are sourced for horses from green grass. Would there be any left in hay?

Again, I really appreciate your work in helping us understand this. It is certainly complicated.

[Doc-t]

The information on FFA’s in horses is limited to agenda driven bias from what I can see. This information is lean in horses as well versus what is known in humans. Because of this we need to step back and look at the general picture.

What should horses eat? They evolved eating ground plants and they migrated to find these. Today there is no migration and they eat only what is available within their paddock or what is offered in their hay. Added to this are the varieties of grains, by-products and supplements. Therefore the only way to “honor” their digestive systems is to return to, as best we can, their past state.

It is almost impossible! However, through elimination we can get closer than where we are today in most horse care.

What I am finding so interesting in human studies is that 1) most body fat (triglycerides (TAG’s) from free fatty acids (FFA’s)) comes from excess sugar intake and 2) the ability to store this fat is coming from the excess intake of fructose (in the horse this is the fructans of ground plants).

For our horses, decreasing the sugar intake in their artificial environment (mostly pasture and hay but also grains, byproducts, supplements and treats) will reduce the production of FFA’s and the storage of TAG’s. Once this is accomplished then I can assume that the creation of Ω3 and Ω6 FA’s will normalize. It is also important to note that decreasing stress / inflammation not only includes normalizing the diet but also the environment (darkness at night, quiet in the barn, reducing hierarchal competition, eliminating bad help, providing recovery times, not over-facing the horse’s ability, and the list goes on!). There is no evidence that adding external sources of fats and oils will improve the damage of stresses. However, reducing gut inflammation is the first step and I think this is done with an elimination diet.

With this said, if added fat is thought to be required I would feed MUFA (mono-unsaturated fatty acids) foods such as shredded coconut meat (Coolstance) before I would add any PUFA (poly unsaturated FA’s) such as seed oils based on the evidence in humans.

[AngelaM]

Thank you for your reply. I wonder if you would be willing to read a book called Mastering Diabetes- by Cyrus Khambatta and Robby Barbaro-it’s about humans only and insulin resistance. At first glance it seems entirely contrary but it actually isn’t (I don’t think anyway). They are saying IR is actually initiated by high fat and that by eating a high fat diet the body’s ability to cope with starches is vastly reduced and IR develops. They also talk about denovo lipogenesis not being a big factor in humans except in the presence of gross over feeding (well that is a huge factor today as evidenced by the availability of food). These guys advocate eating no animal products which I know you don’t agree with but like “good calories, bad calories” they go back in time and look at where we went wrong in diet and medical research because I think we can all agree that certainly things started going sideways many decades ago if you simply ask the question: does society as a whole seem to be getting healthier or sicker in our modern age. BTW I read Good Calories, Bad Calories a long time ago and also Jill Bolte Taylor’s first book “My Stroke of Insight” so the fact that you reference these authors really got my attention. Thanks!

[Doc-t]

Thank you for this reference.

I am starting to realize that a flexible diet is what works. A bit of this and a bit of that. Take down a bison and eat it and then go without meat for a long time. The natural ebb and flow of the seasons. Lush pasture then dormant pasture plus miles of migration. Give the digestive tract and metabolism a chance to rest.

Remember, IR (insulin resistance) is supposed to happen! It is a working process to encourage development of body fat (de novo lipogenesis) and slow our metabolism for the upcoming winter. By itself, IR is normal and good. But when IR persists due to a never-ending supply of food, the IR process goes awry.

The diets of only this or only that (or a high fat diet v a no meat diet) show results in a short time period. However, what makes us sick and decreases a health span / lifespan is mostly over eating on a regular basis. This is where the humans and horses have had their problems develop. Hay 24/7/365 is like McDonald’s on every street corner.

When food is following a seasonal flow then fats, oils, proteins and starch all come together correctly and the body works. It has for millions of years. All we do is muck things up!

I’ll find this book and read it as a balance to what I am learning. Thanks!

[AngelaM]

Thank you. I am inclined to agree with you. I’ll be interested to hear what you think about this book.