If your broodmare has a “bun in the oven,” that bun might benefit from some live yeast, French researchers say. No, the yeast isn’t meant to make the bun rise, but it could give your foal's digestive system a better start in life.

“Our results, albeit preliminary, lead us to believe that Saccharomyces cerevisiae boulardii yeast could favor the early establishment of a stable and diversified intestinal flora in the foal, starting at birth,” said Jean-Marc Betsch, DVM, clinician and researcher at the Méheudin Equine Clinic and veterinary training facility in Ecouché, and ad-hoc professor at the National Veterinary School of Maisons-Alfort. He presented his research at the 2014 French Equine Research Day held March 18 in Paris.

Betsch and colleagues studied 20 Welsh pony foals for two purposes: First, to determine when and how intestinal flora begins to establish, and, secondly, to know if adding yeast—a probiotic—to the mare or foal’s diet could improve the intestinal flora.

Via fecal analysis provides, Betsch said his group determined that intestinal microflora establishes within the first day of life with rapid bacterial colonization