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Chromium! The forgotten mineral

Horse Care
#1

I’ve been reading a bunch about equine nutrition lately and started thinking about Chromium! It’s an essential trace mineral that, according to an article I read in TheHorse

“forms an important part of the glucose tolerance factor and, thus, plays a role in the communication between insulin and insulin receptors. It also plays various roles in lipid metabolism and immune function.”

Oh wow, so it’s important! How much am I feeding? So I checked my hay analysis, feed tags, supplements etc and there is literally NO chromium in any of them. (Now, I have no idea how much Chromium is in the pasture grass, and haven’t done much research on that, but living in the North, we have no grass for about 1/2 the year, and my easy keeper does not get much grass in Summer either).

OK, so how much Chromium should a horse be getting? More than zero, based on how important it is, right? So I checked the horse nutrition bible, Nutrient Requirements of Horses (2007) by the National Research Council (NRC) and it doesn’t provide a chromium recommendation! From what I have read, there hasn’t been enough research done in horses to determine a minimum requirement, and there have been no documented cases of Chromium deficiency in horses.

However, there has been research done in horses with metabolic issues such as Cushings (PPID), EMS, and IR which include chromium supplementation in horses with these issues. The Nutrition Handbook (by Melvin Worth, PhD) recommends a minimum of 14mg of Chromium per day for a 1,000lb horse who has PPID/EMS/IR.

So I’m thinking - if a horse is getting fed NO Chromium and it is essential for proper metabolism in horses, then can one not assume that the horse is Chromium-deficient? And could a deficiency of Chromium in the diet contribute to horses developing metabolic issues?? There hasn’t been any research done on this.

So I’m wondering (if you’ve gotten this far!!). Does anyone have experience with feeding a Chromium supplement to their horses with or without metabolic issues? Would love to get a discussion going! I feel like this is a mineral that gets no attention, but seems pretty important!

#2

I believe that this came up a while back and the chromium insulin link turned out to be pseudo science from the supplement industry. No, just googled and I am wrong. There are proper studies looking at this in humans. They say it is poorly absorbed through diet though.

Is your horse metabolic?

Here is some equine research.

https://ker.com/equinews/importance-chromium-diet/

Here is a supplement product:

https://www.platinumperformance.com/…chromium-yeast

My Vitamin mineral supplement provides 1800 mg of Chromium a day.

So I think it’s something the Equine nutritionists are already aware of.

#3

No but he’s a Haflinger so is prone to developing metabolic issues and I’m also just really interested in equine nutrition.

I’m sure equine nutritionists are aware that horses need Chromium, but no one really knows how much because it hasn’t been studied in horses. For example, the Equine Nutrition Handbook states a minimum of 14mg daily for a 1,000 lb metabolic horse and the supplement you are using provides 1,800mg (more than 100x that amount!) ?? Can I ask which vitamin/mineral supplement you are using?

I contacted 2 large feed companies and they confirmed that there is no Chromium in any of their products. Neither the “complete” feed nor the 2 different ration balancers that are used at our stable have any Chromium in them. I am leaning towards supplementing with Chromium Yeast, although not sure how much to supplement at this point. I need to research Chromium toxicity now! :slight_smile:

#4

I am using a Canadian product, Support One from Pureform. It’s s standard kind of vitamin mineral supplement.

https://www.pureformequinehealth.com…?PRODUCT_ID=14

My own reading suggests there are no officially established daily recommended amounts for horses for most minerals but especially the trace minerals.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromium_toxicity

#5

I don’t know how much Cr (chromium) a horse should get but I think I’ve read somewhere that Brewer’s Yeast is a good source of Cr so if you could always try that.

#6

They may not be ADDING chromium, but that doesn’t mean there’s NO chromium in the feed. A quick Google indicates whole grain products are a good source of chromium. Entirely possible that those sorts of things are used in horse feed.

4 Likes
#7

I also looked at the feed tags (guaranteed analysis) and they don’t even list Chromium. Here are a few examples. Buckeye Gro n Win, which is a ration balancer designed to be fed with grass hay, and Cadence, a complete feed. If there is Chromium in them, why is the amount not listed? I contacted Buckeye to ask how much Chromium is in these feeds and they confirmed that there isn’t any.

https://www.buckeyenutrition.com/med…-sheet-gnw.pdf
https://www.buckeyenutrition.com/med…et-cadence.pdf

Here’s another one for Purina Equilizer. Chromium is not listed.

https://www.equipurina.ca/documents/…uilizer_EN.pdf

I don’t understand, if there is Chromium in these feeds, why is it not listed? Because yes, there is Chromium in some of the ingredients they use. I have sent another message to Buckeye asking them.

#8

https://thehorse.com/159580/mineral-…onth-chromium/

In horses, however, the use of different sources and amounts of Cr in research studies makes it difficult to directly compare study results. Consequently, the National Research Council’s Nutrient Requirements of Horses (2007) does not currently provide a specific daily Cr intake recommendation. Nevertheless, Cr deficiency has never been documented in the horse. This could suggest that Cr naturally occurring in feedstuffs is sufficient to meet the horse’s basic requirements. Based on work in mice and humans, researchers have speculated that signs of a Cr deficiency might only be observed as an impaired glucose/insulin response but creating a truly deficient diet to test this theory has been challenging.

There are many nutrients which don’t get listed in a GA, either because the company chose not to (ever seen companies that don’t list iron or magnesium? We KNOW they re there), or because there isn’t an established requirement (evidenced by the NRC above).

They also aren’t required to list nutrients if it’s not one they have added. If they don’t add chromium, they don’t need to analyze every batch to find out its content. So Buckeye isn’t saying there is zero Cr in their feeds, they’re saying they don’t add any.

3 Likes
#9

Because they’re not legally required to do so. The level of chromium likely changes as the base ingredients either change (as for a feed that is not fixed formula) or seasonally as new batches of base ingredients come in (as for a fixed formula.) Testing each and every batch for chromium and stating the level on the tag would be an unnecessary expense.

A guaranteed analysis isn’t a listing of every single vitamin and mineral contained in the feed–it’s a listing of those things that the company is guaranteeing ARE in the feed. “Guaranteeing” is the key word here.

Look at this GA for Nutrena Safechoice Senior. You see iron listed there? No, you don’t. They’re not GUARANTEEING a minimum or maximum iron level, so it’s not on the label. But that feed is definitely going to contain iron–perhaps a lot, perhaps even added to the feed and listed on the ingredient list.

If you want to know what the chromium level is, send a sample off for testing. But understand that every batch of feed is probably going to be different.

People labels are far more regulated and detailed and even THEY won’t include chromium. Look at the tag for this whole grain bread. Whole grains are high in chromium. You see chromium on the label here? Nope. It’s not something that’s required to be listed, so it’s not. That doesn’t mean it’s not in there.

3 Likes
#10

Thank you JB and Simkie! That makes sense! I have been developing a calculator to determine nutrient amounts in rations, with inputs for horse weight, workload, current ration being fed, etc, but there is missing information, so it will always be inexact.

I am curious, which feed companies do the most testing and are more transparent about what is actually in their feeds?? Organic feed companies? I had a situation recently where I called a local feed manufacturer to get more information regarding the nutrients in their feeds, and they told me the actual nutrient amounts in the feed are different than on the feed tag, and provided me with the actual amounts, which (for some of the nutrients) were significantly different from the information on the feed tag!

For my purposes, I suppose I will need to either find a different type of feed, or make assumptions about A) the amount of Chromium in the feed and B) the amount of Chromium that is optimal for my particular horse.

#11

There is no requirement to take an ingredient (ie wheat middlings) and break it down further into individual nutritional components and list them individually.

#12

No feed company is going to guarantee chromium levels. Someone like cryptoaero might pretend to, but what they’re doing is looking up each ingredient in their feed and adding numbers together. Chromium is highly variable, so that number is meaningless.

If you want to know how much chromium is in your hay and grain, you’re going to have to find someone to test each batch. Equi-analytical might offer that, but they don’t list it as an option on their website. Depending on how much grain you go through and how frequently you’re purchasing, you may need to test every bag. One test per lot number should be sufficient. Same goes for your hay–test each lot. Easy if you purchase hay once a year, but a much larger task of you’re buying a few bales at a time.

If this is of concern to you, the best bet is feeding a chromium supplement and calling it good.

2 Likes
#13

Are you re-inventing FeedXL? Just curious what you’re actually doing.

I am curious, which feed companies do the most testing and are more transparent about what is actually in their feeds?? Organic feed companies?

What does “actually in their feeds” mean? Companies which only make fixed ingredient feeds tell you exactly what ingredients are in there. Companies which make least-cost/non-fixed ingredient feeds, don’t. Some companies who primarily make least-cost formulas have particular feeds which are fixed - Purina for example.

All companies are required to list in the ingredients list things they put in. Key words - that they put in. Of course they can also say it’s a proprietary blend, in which case I usually run away :wink:

There are any number of nutrients whose RDA hasn’t been established (ie chromium), or are so tiny (cobalt, estimated requirement to be .5mg, no known deficiencies reported), or are something the horse makes on his own (many B vitamins), so while those things may well be in the ingredients added, it’s not needed, nor providing real value, to list them as part of the GA.

I would not assume organic feed companies are any better, or worse, than non-organic.

I had a situation recently where I called a local feed manufacturer to get more information regarding the nutrients in their feeds, and they told me the actual nutrient amounts in the feed are different than on the feed tag, and provided me with the actual amounts, which (for some of the nutrients) were significantly different from the information on the feed tag!

Who was that? That is illegal, and they should be reported. And WHY would they tell you that?

For my purposes, I suppose I will need to either find a different type of feed, or make assumptions about A) the amount of Chromium in the feed and B) the amount of Chromium that is optimal for my particular horse.

Given that you acknowledged the above info on chromium, why are you hooked on this quest? If you are trying to manage an EMS horse, then because there is no solid science proving its usefulness in helping reduce, let alone eliminate symptoms, it’s all a guessing game on your part as to how much supplementation, if any, helps your horse.

1 Like
#14

15 yrs. ago when I had a foundered young horse, based on my reading and suggestions, I supplemented him with

human grade Chromium tablets from Walmart. Did this for several years. You might want to go to the website for

IR horses (ECIR ?) where they give you suggested amounts to feed. It’s definitely on the radar of vets who research

IR horses.

#15

Not illegal if the GA says “minimum x” and the rep says “it’s actually greater than x.”

IIRC, it’s only calcium that’s commonly listed with a min and a max number.

#16

Very true - I did make an assumption it was more like the label saying iron is 200ppm, but the brand rep stating it’s more like 400ppm

#17

Does ANYONE have = values in their GA?

Triple Crown is min/max. So is Pro Elite. And Tribute, Nutrena, Purina…

​​​​​​​I saw one that offered an NSC and a max NSC–thought that was interesting. Legends, maybe?

#18

I think only an actual vitamin mineral supplement would have exact values because the whole product is manufactured.

Many of these nutrients exist in varying amounts in the ingredients used to mix feed, so if the manufacturer added x amount of a trace mineral there could be more if its naturally occuring.

As far as I know, the only minerals that can be an overdose problem with normal feeding regimes are selenium and iron.

#19

You’re also making the assumption that your definition of “significantly” different is the same as the OP’s. A lot of people are pretty fuzzy on the concept of acceptable degrees of variation and the general fact that if you are dealing with biological substances (the various plant-based ingredients going into the feed), there’s a certain acceptable amount of inconsistency not matter what you do.

1 Like
#20

You made me go look things up LOL I don’t think it’s always been that way and I just never noticed when it changed. Coulda been many years LOL

But, Seminole doesn’t list min or max for a lot of the ingredients in their Equalizer.

They have [TABLE]
[TR]
Calcium (Ca) (min) [TD]3.50%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
Calcium (Ca) (max) [TD]4.50%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
Phosphorus § % (min) [TD]1.75%[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

I find it interesting that I don’t often see a max Phos.

But then [TABLE]
[TR]
Threonine [TD]1.20%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
Zinc (Zn) ppm [TD]600[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
Copper (Cu) ppm [TD]175[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
Selenium (Se) ppm [TD]2.00[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

and others in both categories

That’s at least on their website - no idea if a tag/bag is different.

But yeah, at least today, listing things as MIN seems to be common.

True! So I’m really curious what company, what ingredient, and what the difference was :yes:

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