Possible Sensitivity to Inulin ?

[LongRunZ]

Has anyone had experience with their horse being sensitive to inulin? I am feeding a psyllium product on a monthly basis that contains inulin and Fructooligosaccharide. I have checked four other sand colic prevention psyllium products and none of them list inulin.
My 6yo Andalusian gelding has had 5 episodes of spasmodic colic since May. The first 2 were the worst, handled medically on site and he had been given 1/2 C psyllium in am prior to episodes. All episodes are concurrent with feeding psyillium. Yes, it could be he has lots of sand but the manure testing now does not support that and my vet no longer thinks his now mild colics have anything to do with the psyllium - we are scheduled to get an endoscopy to confirm no ulcers. The gelding has already had the one month on Gastrogard, then 1 month (actually more) with 1/2 tube and now on 1/4 tube maintenance (Ulcergard). In the past 2 weeks he has had 3 very mild episodes, heart rate doesn’t even go past 32 bpm but it is clear he is not feeling well (lying down, depressed, many many piles of small amts of manure, self resolves within 3 hours). One of them was so mild I didn’t recognize it at the time but in hindsight, I think it was. I had been trying to introduce psyllium back into a morning routine and it was no more than 1-2 tablespoons!
So, no more psyllium, went back to 1/2 Ulcergard and endo in the offing.

But, I read an author online that made the statement " (inulin) wrecks havoc in the hindgut".
Inulin is considered a great pre-biotic for people and also horses.
Are there horses that cannot handle additional inulin in their diet via a psyllium product?
Thank you!

[Marla_100]

A quick search into potential side effects (in humans) state "can cause stomach problems, can make gassy and tight and uncomfortable in stomach, and crampy.

You may have figured out your horse doesn’t tolerate it.

[Katy_Watts]

Inulin from chicory root is what Dr. Pollitt and other researchers use to induce laminitis. When induced this way, it always presents with colic and severe diarrhea. Inulin is also found in dandelions, plantain and thistles. It’s tasty, which is why it’s used in human foods.

Can you provide a link to any evidence that it is good as a probiotic in horses? It is for humans, but I think the supplement companies just ‘assumed’ that consumers will ‘assume’ that it’s also good for horses.

[Katy_Watts]

Inulin from chicory root is what Dr. Pollitt and other researchers use to induce laminitis. When induced this way, it always presents with colic and severe diarrhea. Inulin is also found in dandelions, plantain and thistles. It’s tasty, which is why it’s used in human foods.

Can you provide a link to any evidence that it is good as a probiotic in horses? It is for humans, but I think the supplement companies just ‘assumed’ that consumers will ‘assume’ that it’s also good for horses.

[IPEsq]

It is in just about every gut health supplement for horses, and I’ve never figured out why.

[Katy_Watts]

[QUOTE=IPEsq;8331055]
It is in just about every gut health supplement for horses, and I’ve never figured out why.[/QUOTE]

Me neither. In the horse world, if enough people believe something, it becomes fact. When funding is scarce, lots of stuff becomes fact. It’s not a comfortable place for a skeptic.

[JB]

[QUOTE=Katy Watts;8330895]

Can you provide a link to any evidence that it is good as a probiotic in horses? It is for humans, but I think the supplement companies just ‘assumed’ that consumers will ‘assume’ that it’s also good for horses.[/QUOTE]

I found this

“In preliminary studies where fistulated horses were monitored nutritionally sound intake levels of up to 2% on feed, oligofructose or inulin improved cecal fermentation (18) and the intake of the product was not associated with adverse effects of any kind. Further investigations should focus on reduction of incidence of colic.”

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/137/11/2594S.long

And in the same article, to the point of inducing laminitis:

“Most available articles on inulin-type fructans in horses examining experimental reproduction of hoof laminitis by feeding massive amounts of up to 10 g fructans per kilograms bodyweight (19). Hoof laminitis is a condition resulting in lameness, which often leads to euthanasia of the animal. The doses that are used in these experiments are orders of magnitude higher than the doses having favorable effects on the digestive tract.”

The real question is - is there even enough inulin in supplements and feeds to have the positive effects, or do they just use it to support their marketing claim?

[Katy_Watts]

[QUOTE=JB;8331381]
I found this

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/137/11/2594S.long

The real question is - is there even enough inulin in supplements and feeds to have the positive effects, or do they just use it to support their marketing claim?[/QUOTE]

Interesting. But the cited preliminary study was presented at a conference, and is declared ‘preliminary’. It was presented in 2006 and there’s been no follow up, except to be cited in supplement flyers. Lot of red flags waving for my sense of skepticism.
I didn’t realize this until I started going to conferences, but they don’t present the best studies because to be submitted to the best journals, they have to be ‘first publication’. Conference proceedings are therefore generally of lower importance-preliminary, speculative, and ‘deserving of further research’.

[Katy_Watts]

@LongRunZ;8329821

Has anyone had experience with their horse being sensitive to inulin? I am feeding a psyllium product on a monthly basis that contains inulin and Fructooligosaccharide. I have checked four other sand colic prevention psyllium products and none of them list inulin.

Sorry I missed this before. All plants in the genus Plantago contain short chain fructan, aka FOS or inulin. It’s there naturally as psyllium is Plantago ovata. If your horse is sensitive to this product, he should also be sensitive to plantain (another Plantago) dandelion, and thistles, which contains the same stuff. Rapidly fermentable short chain fructan that produces gas. I think a lot of gassy colic in pasture are from these plants. When it’s cold at night, these plants rapidly form a lot, and they get tastier, so horses then seek them out.

[LongRunZ]

Thank you all for the thoughtful replies!

I was checking some of my research and realized that the article I quoted from (and fortunately printed) “…while it wrecks havoc in the equine hindgut…” was written by Kathryn Watts. Is that you Katy?

My laptop hung so I lost all my tabs. Will need to find the source again that mentioned inulin was useful as an equine prebiotic. I don’t recall if it was an independent research paper or from a manufacturer’s web site.

For now, I will not introduce additional inulin to my horses diet (although I get the impression it is used in feed quite often, I wish I knew if it had to be a listed ingredient). I am not ready to try another psyllium product without inulin at this time. I will wait until after we get the endo results.

Thank you all!