Nutraceutical Supplement Mitigates Insulin Resistance in Horses with a History of Insulin Dysregulation During a Challenge with a High-Starch Diet

Abstract

Insulin dysregulation (ID) is associated with an increased risk of laminitis which often necessitates the need for clinical intervention. To test the contention that the prophylactic supplementation of nutraceuticals could mitigate ID in susceptible horses, 16 mature horses with a history of ID were supplemented with either the placebo (n = 8) or nutraceutical (n = 8) once daily. Horses were housed in dry lots with ad libitum access to grass hay and fed a concentrate twice daily to provide 0.5 g starch/kg BW/meal. A combined glucose–insulin tolerance test was performed on all horses before and after 4 weeks of treatment. Nutraceutical-supplemented horses had 61% greater (p = 0.05) glucose clearance rates compared to the placebo group. This resulted in a shorter time in the positive phase of glucose clearance (p = 0.03) for the nutraceutical group compared to the placebo group. Horses receiving the nutraceutical had lower (p = 0.003) insulin concentrations at 75 min and lower (p = 0.04) glucose concentrations at 45 min compared to the placebo. Prophylactic supplementation with nutraceuticals resulted in greater glucose clearance rates during a starch challenge, indicating that nutraceuticals can mitigate ID in susceptible horses consuming an excess of non-structural carbohydrate.