Study: Even Healthy Old Horses Have Increased Insulin Responses

This suggests old horses need an appropriate diet and management plan to help minimize the risks associated with insulin dysregulation, such as laminitis.
Share
Favorite
Please login to bookmarkClose
Please login

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Old horses
These study results suggest that old horses need an appropriate diet and management plan to help minimize the risks associated with insulin dysregulation, such as laminitis. | Photo: Courtesy Claire Dyett/Spillers

New research, conducted in collaboration with Spillers equine nutrition, shows that even healthy old horses have increased insulin responses compared to younger equids in response to a starch rich or starch and sugar rich meal.

This suggests that older horses, whether or not they have been diagnosed with insulin dysregulation, need an appropriate diet and management plan to help minimize the risks associated with insulin dysregulation such as laminitis.

The hormone insulin is produced by the pancreas. When insulin is released, cells (especially in muscle and the liver) are signaled to take up glucose from the blood. A high level of insulin in the blood (hyperinsulinemia) could be accompanied by insulin resistance (failure of cells to respond appropriately to insulin). This is why the term insulin dysregulation is now used; it refers collectively to excessive insulin responses to sugars, and/or fasting hyperinsulinaemia and/or insulin resistance

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

In the past 12 months, have you spoken to your farrier about the benefits of nonmetal/synthetic/plastic horse shoes?
108 votes · 108 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!