Researchers continue to learn how the components of a horse’s diet can help battle inflammation

Human nutritionists and doctors often encourage patients to consider diet changes to avoid or reduce inflammation. A list of healthy eating tips from the University of California, Davis, suggests eating more fiber and high-fiber carbohydrates, among other things.¹ Researchers from John Hopkins Medicine and Harvard Health suggest adopting a Mediterranean diet because it is based on omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin C, and fiber-rich foods.^2,3

Increasingly, horse owners want to know if dietary changes can help reduce or avoid inflammation in their horses, too. Researchers continue exploring the link between nutrition and inflammation in equine medicine. Despite progress, gaps remain in understanding how diet influences inflammation—both positively and negatively.

“My big caution to horse owners is not to assume that just because it works in a human that it’s going to work in a horse,” says Sarah H. White-Springer, PhD, associate professor of equine physiology at Texas A&M University, in College Station. “We expect it to be similar because horses are monogastric, and so digestion and absorption that happens before the hindgut, where all the microbes live, should be similar. What we’re finding is sometimes that’s not exactly true