While the exact cause of inflammatory small bowel disease (ISBD) in horses remains unknown, a group of Dutch researchers suspect that gluten intolerance could be a contributing factor of the disease. They recently tested their hypothesis and found that gluten sensitivity in horses is a possibility.

Gluten is a protein composite found in foods processed from wheat and related grains. Inflammatory small bowel disease is a condition that results in malabsorption and maldigestion of feed. Common clinical signs include poor body condition, weight loss or failure to gain weight; decreased appetite, increased gastrointestinal motility, a history of mild recurrent colic, and occasionally, diarrhea.

"Concentrates designated for use in sport horses … are containing an increased amount of (gluten-rich) wheat … as we learned from representatives of the feed industry," noted Han Van der Kolk, PhD, DVM, a faculty member in the Department of Equine Sciences at Utrecht University’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, located in The Netherlands