Few studies have examined the effect of dietary restriction in horses with equine metabolic syndrome (EMS). This study aimed to determine improvements in insulin sensitivity following dietary restriction for 6 weeks, and to determine if the improvement would be greater in horses receiving short-chain fructo-oligosaccharides (sc-FOS). Dietary management involved feeding grass hay, restricted to 1.25% of body mass (BM) as daily dry matter intake and soaked in cold water prior to feeding, with the addition of a vitamin and mineral nutraceutical supplement with or without the addition of sc-FOS (10 g/100 kg). Soaking the hay resulted in a significant reduction in non-structural carbohydrates (38%, P = 0.01), digestible energy (6.78%, P = 0.01) and water soluble minerals. Following 6 weeks of dietary restriction with soaked grass hay and nutraceutical supplement, horses lost an average of 6.8% BM and showed reductions in body condition score (BCS) and belly circumference. Sensitivity to insulin improved overall, as determined by the total insulin response during the combined glucose insulin test. The magnitude of improvement in insulin sensitivity was associated with the degree of insulin resistance recorded at outset, and the extent of overall losses in BM and BCS, but was independent of the addition of sc-FOS. The nutraceutical supplement was highly palatable and no adverse effects were noted. From the findings of this study a strict dietary program in combination with a specifically designed vitamin and mineral nutraceutical supplement can be recommended to obtain rapid improvements in BM, BCS and insulin sensitivity of animals presenting with EMS.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 25 February 2020.
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#11,485,932
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Outputs from Veterinary Journal
#734
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Outputs of similar age
#83,042
of 239,945 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Veterinary Journal
#18
of 50 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,454,098 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 65th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,743 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.5. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 71% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 50 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 62% of its contemporaries.
