Equine Gut Balancers- Which is best?
Equine gut balancers are a popular supplement for horses. Horses have a sensitive digestive system that can be put off my simple things such as environmental changes, social anxieties and alterations in feed. To help horses through these changes, we turn to the gut supplement, so we ask do any of these supplement’s work? In this post when I talk about gut balancer/supplements its for digestive aid, not ulcers. I will do another post on ulcer supplements in the future.
Let’s look at the 5 brands easily found on the web and break their information, feed label and marketing down.
- Equine America Pro Gut
- Transvite Equine Products UK
- Science Supplements Gut Balancer
- Protexin Equine Premium Gut Balancer
- Omega Digest – Gut Balancer
Equine America Pro Gut
Key Ingredient per 30g serving:
Saccharomyces cerevisiae MUCL 39885(1.5g) 2.5 x 1010cfu
Fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) 10g
Mannan Oligosaccharide 2.5g
Transvite Equine Products UK
Key Ingredients per 20g serving:
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae 4b1702 (1.8g) 1.5 x 1012 (per kg)
Fructo-oligosaccharides 10g (500g/kg)
Science Supplement Gut Balancer
Key Ingredients per daily feeding rate 50g:
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae (20g) 2.0 x 1011 CFU
Fructo-oligosaccharides 10g
Mannan oligosaccharides and beta glucans 5g
Protexin Equine Premium Gut Balancer
Key Ingredients per 10g serving:
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae 4b1702 (0.6g) 1 x 1012 CFU (per kg)
Fructo-oligosaccharides (no measurement listed)
Omega Digest - Gut Balancer
Key Ingredients per 15.5g serving:
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae 4b1702 (1.57g) 2.63 x 1010
Fructo-oligosaccharides (no measurement listed)
Mannan oligosaccharides and beta glucans (no measurement listed)
The ingredients, what are they and what does science say?
Well, that was a lot of big long words and numbers that look kind of confusing, so let’s explain these.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae (aka baker’s yeast or brewer’s yeast)
Yeast is the term generally applied to a unicellular fungus. One of the most notable and well-known species of yeast in health and wellness is known as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is also known by its more common names, brewer's yeast or baker's yeast. This is also a probiotic (I’ll mention prebiotics further down).
You may have noticed from the list above that all the gut supplements have this in some form. The main thing with seeing this ingredient is, how much does my horse get a day? Many supplement companies love to shout that their supplement has xxx amount in the product, but when you break it down to what the horse is getting per dose, it might not be enough to make a difference.
So, how much brewer’s yeast does a horse need to make it alive to the hind gut to make a difference?
In one study, researchers found that by giving a horse 10g per day of brewer’s yeast along with a high starch diet, found that the yeast reduced the extent of unwanted changes in the intestines associated with feeding high starch. This is what we want our gut supplement to do, to help keep balance in the gut. Taking a look at our list again, only one of these supplements has 10g or more of the brewer’s yeast in it per daily dose, the rest are less than 2g daily dose.
Fructo-oligosaccharides (aka sugars known as “prebiotics”)
Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) are made up of plant sugars linked in chains. They are taken from plants like onion, chicory, garlic, asparagus, banana, artichoke, among many others. Fructo-oligosaccharides are used as prebiotics. Prebiotics act as food for “good” bacteria in the intestine, to flourish and grow. It is basically helping along what’s already in your horse’s gut.
When horses digest fibre, they create volitive fatty acids (VFA’s) and absorb hem as and use it as an energy source. When horses were fed FOS for 10 days in a study, they had increased levels of VFA’s. The increase of the VFA concentrations was linear, in that the more of the FOS that was fed, the more that was seen. Feeds of 8g FOS saw VFA concentrations of 3.69mg/g and the higher feeding rate of 24g of FOS saw VFA concentrations of 4.25mg/g.
Looking at our list of products, two of them do no state how much is in a daily serving and the other three have 10g per serving. From looking at the study conducted, 10g is a good middle ground to encourage good gut health.
Mannan oligosaccharides and beta glucans (prebiotics)
Mannan oligosaccharides (MOS) is a large molecule that can mop up and bind to bad bacteria (mycotoxins). Beta glucans are known to help boost the immune system. They are found in fungi, plants, some bacteria, and sea weeds. Over all, these are the supports for the already existing bacteria in the horse’s gut. Out of our list, 2/5 have both and 1/5 has just the MOS and the remaining two don’t have it included.
So, which supplement is best?
Looking at this chart we can see that Science Supplements is coming out on top. The fact that it is the only one with enough brewer’s yeast to scientifically have an effect, speaks volumes. As usual, this is reflected in the price, as these high-quality ingredients at rates that will have an effect are costly. On the other end of the scale I would avoid Protexin as it doesn’t contain enough yeast to have an effect, there is unknown number of FOS and no other prebiotics listed. This is also reflected in the price, in that it is the second cheapest supplement we looked at. Overall, remember to look at the label before buying and that cheaper is not always better. Ensure there is live yeast in the tub and as a nutritionist once said “if there is no probiotic, it isn’t going to do much for your horse”
References
Moyad MA. Brewer's/baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and preventive medicine: Part II. Urol Nurs. 2008 Feb;28(1):73-5. PMID: 18335702.
Medina B, Girard ID, Jacotot E, Julliand V. Effect of a preparation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on microbial profiles and fermentation patterns in the large intestine of horses fed a high fiber or a high starch diet. J Anim Sci. 2002 Oct;80(10):2600-9. doi: 10.2527/2002.80102600x. PMID: 12413082.
Sabater-Molina M, Larqué E, Torrella F, Zamora S. Dietary fructooligosaccharides and potential benefits on health. J Physiol Biochem. 2009 Sep;65(3):315-28. doi: 10.1007/BF03180584. PMID: 20119826.
E. L. Berg, C. J. Fu, J. H. Porter, M. S. Kerley, Fructooligosaccharide supplementation in the yearling horse: Effects on fecal pH, microbial content, and volatile fatty acid concentrations,, Journal of Animal Science, Volume 83, Issue 7, July 2005, Pages 1549–1553, https://doi.org/10.2527/2005.8371549x
Soltanian S, Stuyven E, Cox E, Sorgeloos P, Bossier P. Beta-glucans as immunostimulant in vertebrates and invertebrates. Crit Rev Microbiol. 2009;35(2):109-38. doi: 10.1080/10408410902753746. PMID: 19514911.