Feeding yeast to help digestion

[GramV]

I’m interested in what feedback people have. I have a mare I would like to have more weight on and am trying this to see what happens. (Please don’t start with a list of “Have you . . . ?”) Yes, I have. I just want to discuss yeast.

In my research live yeast cultures seem to be the only effective ones, and I found this company and am awaiting it. https://horsesupplementsstore.com/product/yea-sacc/

Hs anyone tried this or other yeast/probiotics and what are your thoughts? It seems that maybe some horses gut flora isn’t as effective as others for various reasons, and this is a good option in helping maximize digestion. I was reading an article about gluton free and how it changes they flora in their gut and how that might be the key.

[Scribbler]

I get an access denied dangerous site warning on that link.

[GramV]

]

@Scribbler

I get an access denied dangerous site warning on that link.

Really? It works fine for me. They’re shipping it through Amazon. But my receipt says 8 lbs for $30 postage paid.

Smartpack has it: https://www.smartpakequine.com/ps/yeasacc-3706
Here is another page on the site that explains it: https://horsesupplementsstore.com/yea-sacc-science/
Alltech developed it and here it is from them: https://horsesupplementsstore.com/yea-sacc-science/

In searching, it seems mostly to show up in Europe. I don’t know why. https://www.saracenhorsefeeds.com/supplements/yea-sacc

[Scribbler]

I still can’t get through to that site. Here is my favorite probiotcs

https://www.horseherbs.com/products/probioplus

I thought they had saccarides yeast but now the label just says nutrtional yeast.

I also have a human probiotic on hand Florastor that is sacchyrides b. yeast. It clears up bouts of diarrhea effectively.

The herbs for horses product has been effective for me in correcting diet induced diarrhea for Instance switching from pasture to hay.

A big question would be: what part of the digestive system are you hoping to improve? The stomach, the small intestine, or the colon? Different things go on in each place. Different problems, different solutions. The further back you go the harder to be sure the remedy is making it through. Things go into the stomach more reliably.

On the other hand problems in small intestine digestion can create problems in the colon if undigested carbs get through. And medication for stomach ulcers can cause colon problems.

So a first question is: what digestive problems do you want the yeast to fix?

Also what do you mean by gluton free in the context of a horse diet? The only possible thing a horse could eat with gluten in it is wheat, and that is only present in small amounts in some commercial feeds. Nothing else in a horses diet has gluten in it, including oats, corn, bran, flax, etc.

On the other hand, undigested carbs can impact the colon which is intended to ferment fibre.

I think probiotics including yeast are relatively harmless and it can’t hurt to try them. But if your mare does not have obvious digestive problems like diarrhea or gas or hind gut colic my guess is they won’t have a lot of effect.

These may also be of interest.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/23161811/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4895607/

[Palm_Beach]

@GramV

I’m interested in what feedback people have. I have a mare I would like to have more weight on and am trying this to see what happens. (Please don’t start with a list of “Have you . . . ?”) Yes, I have. I just want to discuss yeast.

In my research live yeast cultures seem to be the only effective ones, and I found this company and am awaiting it. https://horsesupplementsstore.com/product/yea-sacc/

Hs anyone tried this or other yeast/probiotics and what are your thoughts? It seems that maybe some horses gut flora isn’t as effective as others for various reasons, and this is a good option in helping maximize digestion. I was reading an article about gluton free and how it changes they flora in their gut and how that might be the key.

Does your current concentrate already have yeast in it?

[NancyM]

Brewers yeast is a classic additive, used for decades for just what you are hoping it will do for you and your horse. It is available in many different supplements, choose your favourate. Nutritional yeast is not yeast. It is a byproduct of the molassas industry. Tastes great, but not helpful to digestion.

[banmharcach]

Diamond V YC----a couple of tablespoons added daily to feed --initially to settle hindgut but also much cheaper than some of the yeast-based hoof supplements. & yes, many of the feed concentrates do have yeast amongst the ingredients.

[Obsidian_Fire]

Yes, I have ordered from ‘horse supplement store’ both the YeaSacc & the Bio-Mos. I felt it helped my gelding when he was having tummy troubles. It is fairly cheap, so really… He would lick it out of my hand.

And, @Scribbler - bran is a wheat product - therefore, gluten. Forbidden if you have Celiac’s… So is barley.

[IPEsq]

I think it’s considered a prebiotic. You can find it in a lot of stuff, including many supplements aimed at the gut. The vet school here usually instructs syringing Platinum Balance after a bad colic (before the horse is back on normal food it can be added to). Well, it’s a powder that doesn’t dissolve, so you need to make a slurry to do this. But don’t use warm water or you will have a yeast explosion.

[Scribbler]

@Obsidian Fire

Yes, I have ordered from ‘horse supplement store’ both the YeaSacc & the Bio-Mos. I felt it helped my gelding when he was having tummy troubles. It is fairly cheap, so really… He would lick it out of my hand.

And, @Scribbler - bran is a wheat product - therefore, gluten. Forbidden if you have Celiac’s… So is barley.

Interesting. I thought gluten was a protein in the grain, and therefore wouldn’t be present in the husk, just like the phytoestrogens associated with soy meal aren’t present to significant degree in soy hulls. I can see for humans with celiac you’d want to be ultra cautious and not risk any wheat byproduct. I didn’t realize barley also contained a smaller amount of gluten

But I stand by my larger point that gluten free for horses is probably a red herring in nutritional advice, compared to the hind gut problems caused by carb over load. The equine digestive system has some significant differences from the human system.

[Scribbler]

@NancyM

Brewers yeast is a classic additive, used for decades for just what you are hoping it will do for you and your horse. It is available in many different supplements, choose your favourate. Nutritional yeast is not yeast. It is a byproduct of the molassas industry. Tastes great, but not helpful to digestion.

Saccharydes b. isn’t either of these. It’s a strain of yeast discovered on tropical fruit that helps fix human hind guts when they have diarrhea from overpopulation by pathogens like e coli. IME it works great on that lingering colon trouble when you think you may have had a brush with food borne illness.

I believe my favorite brand of horse probiotics had saccharydes b. a few years ago but they have switched that out now for other bacterial strains. The company says they are constantly researching and tweaking the formula. I’m currently using it on a new horse under my care that got diarrhea after coming in from pasture and it seems to be working.

Probiotics target the hind gut, not the stomach or small intestine. I don’t know whether probiotics would help a horse extract more calories from hay fiber in the hind gut if the horse already has normal poop. Of course the big question is whether the probiotics make it through the stomach acid and the enzymes in the small intestine to function in the hind gut.

The research I linked to earlier showed that saccharydes b. persisted and colonized the horse hind gut. It just didn’t resolve the microbial diarrhea any faster than the control group.

OP I am interested in how the yeast works for you.

[Feathered_Feet]

@NancyM

Brewers yeast is a classic additive, used for decades for just what you are hoping it will do for you and your horse. It is available in many different supplements, choose your favourate. Nutritional yeast is not yeast. It is a byproduct of the molassas industry. Tastes great, but not helpful to digestion.

I’ll second brewer’s yeast. It’s relatively cheap, which is nice for a change! (I buy in bulk online.)

[GramV]

Yes, basically looking for a prebiotic to help see if it maximizes digestion in an older horse.

I don’t feed premade concentrates because I want to know everything they get, so it doesn’t have any of this. They get a taste of COB and and vitamin e and selenium because of the soil here, and flax. The older horse also gets MSM, glucosamine, and chondroitin. I’m going to see if this yeast, which seems the most high quality, will help maximize feed.

She’s an interesting horse. She’s getting good feed and is in the right environment, but never has a fat look to her. She has a massive barrel, and even at 9 months pregnant barely looked it. Her weight is OK, but she likes to have this little indent right in front of her hip bone between it and the rib cage, like she won’t fill in there, so slowly trying different things to see if it makes a difference.

In researching, it seems live yeast is the really only effective thing, and this strain was particularly good. I don’t know if just buying Brewer’s yeast would do it, also, but this was relatively cheap, so I thought I’d start with that and maybe can try regular Brewer’s yeast some other time and see if it makes any difference.

I wasn’t thinking about a gluten free diet for a horse. It was just something I read about people and found it interesting in relation to how your body metabolizes food.