Dietary Fat and Exercise Conditioning Effect on Metabolic Parameters in the Horse

Abstract

Four isocaloric diets containing 4, 8, 12 and 16% dietary fat (as soybean oil) were fed to four horses at four intervals according to a Latin square design. After 3 weeks of conditioning at each interval, diet effects were evaluated by trotting all horses at 3.2 m/sec for 6 hours. Pre- and posttrotting responses were measured in muscle and liver glycogen, serum long-chain fatty acids, serum electrolytes, serum enzymes, serum cholesterol, plasma glucose, packed cell volume and hemoglobin. Dietary fat was highly correlated with exercise-induced plasma glucose changes and with cholesterol concentrations. Regardless of the diet, linoleate concentration was about eight times higher than that of the other fatty acids, and it increased slightly as dietary fat levels increased. Stearate concentration also increased with increasing dietary fat but palmitic and oleic acid decreased. Increases in fat intake also resulted in slight increases in liver glycogen at the resting level. Conditioning resulted in a significant decrease in exercise-induced fluctuations of serum enzymes and electrolytes but significantly increased elevations of plasma long-chain fatty acid concentrations. Resting muscle glycogen increased by 37% during the study as a result of conditioning, but there was no effect on liver glycogen at rest or after exercise. Feeding of the four levels of dietary fat in the form of soybean oil had no adverse effects and proved a safe and efficient method of providing concentrated energy to working horses.

Fatty acid and cholesterol content, chemical composition and sensory evaluation of horsemeat

“…In the present study the major fatty acids were palmitic (16:0, 25.9%), linoleic (18:2n-6, 22.9%), and oleic (18:1n-9, 22.2%) acid. Therefore, although the concentrations of the major fatty acids were within a similar range, their relative concentrations differed from those reported by Hambleton et al (1980). The horsemeat contains nutritionally important fatty acids such as arachidonic acid (AA -20:4n-6: 2.97%) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA -20:5n-3: 0.43%); and 36.8% saturated fatty acids (SFA) and 36.8% PUFA with a PUFA/SFA ratio of 0.97, which characterize it as a healthy meat according to the reference values the Department of Health and Social Security (1984).…”

“…In relation to other meat species such as the goat , cattle ) and chicken (Boroski et al 2008), the qualitative and quantitative fatty acid composition were different, except for six fatty acids. Hambleton et al (1980) found that the main fatty acids in horse carcasses in descending order of concentration were oleic, palmitic and linoleic acids. In the present study the major fatty acids were palmitic (16:0, 25.9%), linoleic (18:2n-6, 22.9%), and oleic (18:1n-9, 22.2%) acid.…”

Suplementação com óleo de soja na dieta de potros

“…Outros autores (McCann et al, 1987;Hambleton et al, 1990;Hallebeek, 2002) confirmaram que a adição de lipídios na dieta de equídeos não tem efeito sobre os níveis plasmáticos de colesterol.…”

Diet and exercise performance in the horse

“…Dietary oils and fats are well utilized (McCann et al 1987;Hollands & Cuddeford, 1992;Potter et al 19926) and, as well as reducing the risk of colic and laminitis, they may promote intramuscular and hepatic fat metabolism. Hard training (Hambleton et al 1980) and fat supplementation with anaerobic (Pagan et al 1993) and extended aerobic (Pagan et al 1987c) exercise are followed by an elevation in plasma FFA, but resting FFA are lowered by supplementation . Thus, there may be stimulation of P-oxidation, or of both fat mobilization and metabolism (Figs.…”

“…1987), whilst two other reports suggest that fat supplementation lowers muscle glycogen (Pagan et al 1987b;Greiwe et al 1989). Most reports describe increased resting muscle glycogen following inclusion of vegetable, or animal, fat at about 100 g/kg diet to provide equal DE or metabolizable energy (ME) intakes (Hambleton et al 1980;Meyers et al 1987Meyers et al , 1989Oldham et al 1990;Jones et al 1992;Scott et al 1992; Table 1). Effects of fat on hepatic glycogen capacity, which is 10% of that in skeletal muscle, are equivocal (Hambleton et al 1980;Pagan et al 19876).…”