I haven’t paid much attention to the various oral joint supplements discussions over the years because the upshot seems to be they don’t do much. But here is the usually reliable MadBarn website saying MSM has actual researched efficacy and isn’t that expensive. Is this true, nutrition mavens? @JB. 
I always thought it was an anti inflammatory that worked on joints to help with arthritis and such? No idea if it actually works . My mare has been on it for several years( vet recommended it due to her issue) and it is very affordable. Hasn’t hurt her.
Not sure research in horses but tons of research in humans that show it works for inflammation and one study showed it works even better combined with glucosamine.
It’s cheap and can’t harm anything.
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Yes, there’s a good bit of research in humans, and has proven to be pretty good at helping with some inflammation. Not like bute, of course, but appreciable nonetheless
There’s some research in horses. Not to the extent in people, but useful still
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As @candyappy said, MSM is an anti-inflammatory agent. Not in the same classes of other anti-inflammatory agents such as corticosteroids, and aspirin and other nonsteroidal inflammatory agents.
Without going into my usual lengthy pharmacology lecturer response, MSM is effective as a joint supplement, but….
The key here is to define what you mean by “works.” Reduces pain? May improve range of joint motion? Probably yes to those.
MSM has anti-inflammatory activity throughout the body. It does not just magically pick joints as an only target. So be aware that things other than joints are affected by it as well.
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So what counts as inflammation?
Are osteoarthritis growths inflammation?
Is there any draw back to an anti inflammatory such as reduced immune system?
I guess in this case MSM wouldn’t actually increase joint fluid.
Inflammation will cause damage to joint structures, A anti-inflammatory drug will inhibit and reduce further damage, but will not repair damage to cartilage and bone already done. Some other joint supplements like glucosamine may supply things to the joint that actually are used for repair.
That is as simple as I can state it. Scientifically there are lots of butwhatabouts in there.
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Thanks! The article ranks glucosamine as insufficient evidence of efficacy compared to MSM.
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An aside, but did you see (fellow Canadian Scribbler) that MadBarn has partnered with Eleanor Kellon? I was so pleased to see that.
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Yes, that’s where she went after Uckele sold their line of horse supplements to Smart Pack (or at least some went to SP, not sure if all went)
Well whatever the reasons, I’m glad to see it. MadBarn is a (very) local company with amazing customer service. I like to see them continue to grow.
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I think there was a study with racehorses that supported the 10g daily dose for MSM… now if I could only remember where I read that…
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So I’ve had my 18yo gelding on SmartPak’s SmartFlex Senior pellets for a long time. A few months ago I thought, you know he probably doesn’t need this, so I will just switch him over to MSM and get the same effect for less money. Gave him the same dose of MSM. This summer he’s been feeling stiffer and stiffer…even had the vet out to make sure he wasn’t starting with laminitis (he does have cushings). Then I thought, hmmmm, maybe the supplement did help him more than I realized. So I am switching him back to the SmartFlex just to see…he’s been consistently stiff, so if there is a difference, I can probably attribute it to the supplement. Could also be that he’s getting older and stiffer with his age. I am curious to see if there is a difference though.
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Smartflex has devils claw which I’m told is a potent painkiller so that would be a big possibility for why he feels so different. Devil’s claw is in Buteless too.
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Here’s another angle. My young trainer friend who swears by Adequan as actually improving joint health says MSM as primarily an anti-inflammatory is just muting pain but not doing anything to really heal the joints. Is that really true or is the sulphur part of the building blocks of joint tissue?
I’m not ready to drop $600 on a month of Adequan and learn to give IM injections every 4 days. Not yet anyhow.
It occurs to me that if I try MSM, and it makes a difference, maybe I should investigate further what’s going on, kind of like how people do a Bite trial. Not going to do a Bite trial after spending a small fortune on Gastrogard last year (which really seemed to work).
It was a study by Guelph, horses showed increased work times and a marked reduction in lactic acid levels post workout over the control.
That study is why every horse I own in work gets 10gr daily with 20gr on Marathon Day/day after (study showed increased benefits from 20gr).
I think that study was late 90’s/early 2000, definitely not much later!
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Yes! Years ago I was researching feed-throughs and found that most are not effective. I stumbled across articles on MSM and it seemed to show that it was effective and inexpensive. I’ve had whatever horse I have had on it since then, along with joint injections.
There is validity in examining whether administrating therapeutic supplements are disguising acute pain versus addressing chronic pain – but, I look at MSM like a little oil in spokes. It’s not going to fix a broken tooth in a spoke wheel, but it sure is going to help the get-along.
I also think horses can just plain benefit from MSM (or other joint supplements) without having an acute issue; some horses accumulate jewelry in their life and a little MSM helps. I’m thinking of older horses, retired TBs and STBs, etc - their improvement on MSM is noticeable enough I use it.
Adequan is very different than MSM, addresses different things. It is much more costly and it wouldn’t be my first pick for joint supplements unless it was a sport horse that demonstrated clinical osteoarthritis that was also already getting actual joint injections. YMMV, but it’s so expensive that I really prefer only using it if I know the horse needs it - example, I did give it to a horse with bad hocks (injected yearly) that was nearing the end of his competitive career. I saw better results with Pentosan, though.
Re: devil’s claw - it is so interesting how different horses react to this; I used it for a cushings/senior horse and saw no difference whatsoever. I discontinued but tried it on a horse that had diagnosed KS that was managed with back injections and other therapies and didn’t see much a difference either; but my friends swear by it.
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Inflammation can be the trigger that starts the body laying down inappropriate bone deposits, such as what can cause bone spurs. It’s not always or necessarily about actively inproving or preventing joint health, but helping mitigate processes that can then trigger joint health degredation.
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Don’t know the science, just my personal experience. 20 or so years ago MSM was having a “moment “. My experience on my horses was it didn’t do much. But I used it for FEIs because not much was more than nothing and it was legal ( or not detectable, can’t remember which). If it was highly effective I would think it would be in more regular use but it is cheap and safe and worth a try. Adequan has FDA proven efficacy for improving joint health. Whole different category of medication.
