I wonder if the Ultra Cruz is more economical than Swanson Natural Vitamin e 1000iu capsules ??…also wondering if it’s as well absorbed being a powder /pellet vs the gel caps or the liquid Emcelle ? Anyone see a difference between using the gel caps Vs liquid Emcelle Vs Ultra Cruz??
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d-alpha tocopheryl acetate is d-alpha-tocopheryl acetate. The oil carrier doesn’t make this product any different for horses than feeding a dry product.
Taking pricing from here, it’s $26.09 for 250 1000 iu capsules, or $0.10 per 1000 IU.
The powdered Santa Cruz product is $0.13 per 1000 iu, so just slightly more.
If your horses are happy with the capsules, that’s a fine way to go. Mine sifted them out!
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What about shelf life? I’ve used the Ultra Cruz product myself, I buy the larger bag of powder, but then I wonder how degraded it gets once opened. I keep it in the original packaging, in a container that is dry.
??
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I’m curious about this. Emcelle is a Stuart Products product, so you’re saying they also make Elevate (W.S. I assume)?
Ok …luckily mine don’t seem to mind the capsules ! Thanks for the breakdown
Yes …Nicole from Custom Equine Nutrition(Vermont Blend) told me this info because she sells the Emcelle.
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I’m curious about this! The reading I’ve done online suggests that an adult, working horse only needs about 1000 IU daily, but you all seem to be aiming for a minimum of 2000 IU daily. Please tell me more? My horse gets 1000 IU daily in her ration balancer, but I’m interested in supplementing more now that I’ve been reading this thread!
Maybe this is similar to my own situation with vit D, where the bottle suggests 1000 IU daily but the naturopath suggests 4-5000 IU daily? 
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The most recent (2007?) NRC says base requirement is 0.5IU per pound, so 500IU for a 1000lb horse. I don’t recall what that info was based. But I don’t know any credible nutritionist, or anyone who’s dived into more and more current research on this, who thinks a horse should get less than 1IU/lb, and most prefer to start at 2IU/lb and go up from there for hard work (work, breeding, growing) but ALSO, do some baseline blood work and look at how the horse is performing.
Personally, I supp 2000IU to my big horses over Winter. They’re 125-1400, so it’s not a 2IU/lb supplementation, but it’s on top of what their ration balancer provides, which is 1500IU (1.5lb of TC Balancer). That said, it’s about 50/50 synthetic and natural there, so that 1500 is more like 990-1000 or so. So total, they effectively get around 3000IU which is 2.1IU/lb for the biggest and more like 2.4IU/lb or the smallest.
1000IU is pretty bare bones, won’t harm, might help, for most in the US but your naturaopath has a much better handle on reality IMHO. Should I assume you’ve had blood work done to check your D level? I have, several years ago, and at the end of the Summer (early Oct I think), AND while taking 2000IU already as suggested by my dermatologist (my PCP made no mention), I was still low. I think my level was 17, and it should have been at least 35. So, I doubled my intake to 4000IU
But I also got to diving into US standards vs European standards, and for things like D and B12 (where I was also deficient), they have a significantly higher range of normal, and where the US range (at the time, it’s been a few years), 48 (my new value after 4000IU) was considered acceptable for a woman, Europe says “likely low for a woman”, so I started with 6000IU and it’s served me well, getting me to the high end of US standards, and fairly mid-range for European standards
IMHO, the US tends to be behind the times on things like this, at least for people.
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My boy initially tested very low - 90 with the range starting at 200 - so I’ve dosed him at 8000 units per day, split in two doses, and retest every year.
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US vs Europe is crazy different for standards for sure. I will also add that the issue with much of the supplementing efficacy is really hindered by crappy companies that do not put needed components together in one bottle! Like the Vitamin D. If it doesn’t have K2 with it then you are being done a disservice to your calcium absorption. Add to that that so many cheap companies use inflammatory carrier seed oils and unlabeled/undisclosed Maltodextrin (which can cause gastric upset leading to people thinking they can’t take X supplement/vitamin) in it really is a mess. My husband is really big on these supplement combos as he has found so much data from good studies that are being masked by crappy old information or pharmaceutical companies that want you to take drugs vs a natural option that can actually fix your issues! High doses of good vitamin D could do so much good for so many of the population that either don’t process it well naturally or don’t spend enough time out in the sun regularly!
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While my horse is turned out, I put his alfalfa pellets, Omneity Vit pellets and 2, 1000IU Vit E gel caps in his corner feeder. I arrange it so the gel caps are in a lower corner and pour in a couple cups of water. By the time he comes in the gel caps are dissolved. Once he starts eating, the pellets mix with the water, but it all gets consumed/licked clean.
In Canada. I’m using Pureform Vitamin E.
Darn! I’ve been meaning to order it to give it a try for my picky pony who spits out the gel capsules. I thought I’d hold off and see if there was maybe a Boxing Day sale. Oh well.
Both my vet a a local independent equine nutritionist recommend supplementing above the NRC daily recommended dose, up to 2-3000 IU daily. The supplement I feed covers the NRC recommended amount, so I supplement in addition to that.
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I have always supplemented with vitamin e but apparently at some point in her life I didn’t give my mare enough and we now know she has VEM. It cost me almost 20k in diagnostics to arrive at that diagnosis but thankfully it is something that is inexpensive to treat. Because of that I am now erring on the side of supplementing my other horse with a more bioavailable source of E than what I previously used just in case.
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Just to jump back in here for clarity …
If I switch to Ultra Cruz pellets, which offer 8000 units per 2 scoops, it’s as bioavailable as Elevate E, and it’s cheaper? Not sure why these are fat soluble but friends are emphasizing need for water soluble.
Because I live in MN and my pony doesn’t get to go on pasture (laminitis risk) I’ve been supplementing vitamin e, or at least I thought I was. It took a lot of sleuthing (thanks to this forum) but I learned that vitamin e when in a balancer is basically destroyed by some of the other minerals that they add. I don’t remember which ones but maybe someone here can share. At any rate my mare also ended up with VEM. It was bad, I’ve needed to rehab over the past couple of months because she was significantly weak and stiff. Luckily I have an amazing vet who got us on the right path pretty quickly and at her last blood draw her numbers were looking pretty good. I started with 8000 of Elevate but switched to Emcelle after that bottle was used up and she’s been on Emcelle ever since now at 4000. I’m going to play with the dosing a bit and keep testing until we hit the sweet spot. The bottle has a pump so it’s easy for my boarding barn to feed it and my extremely picky mare gobbles up her feed with it and even licks her bowl clean. I’ll keep her on the Emcelle for as long as I can since it’s very cost effective and I know she’ll eat it.
Water soluble is Elevate WS. Elevate WS is analogous to Emcelle. Emcelle is less expensive than Elevate WS.
Elevate powder is analogous to the Ultra Cruz products, either the pellet or powder. Ultra Cruz is less expensive than Elevate powder.
Water soluble is recommended for horses that are very, very low, to bring levels up quickly. Or for horses that are shown to just not maintain with a non water soluble product. For most, a dry product is fine.
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Thank you for this discussion.
I really should probably start supplementing E for my horse who gets no pasture, and I was just looking yesterday at adding something to his Smartpak. But he’s not a picky eater so I think I’ll pick up some gel caps in the grocery store tomorrow and see what he thinks…
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Definitely supplement, I’d be adding around 2000IU for now In a couple months, it’s worth a blood test to see where his level is, so you know whether to keep doing what you’re doing, decrease, or even switch to Emcelle for 1-2 bottles if his level is just too low
The Santa Cruz pellets smell delicious - and you can get them from Chewy.
