Selenium Status’ Impact on Equine Antioxidant Factors

Researchers recently evaluated selenium status’ impact on antioxidant factors in mature horses.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Selenium Status
The team ultimately concluded that horses might benefit from greater amounts of selenium in the diet compared to NRC recommendations to increase glutathione peroxidase activity. | Photo: Photos.com
How important is the micromineral selenium to antioxidant activity in horses? A University of Kentucky (UK) research team recently set out to find out. The team evaluated selenium status’ impact on antioxidant factors in mature horses.

Selenium (Se) plays an integral role in many of the equine body’s functions, including production of the enzyme glutathione peroxidase, an antioxidant that’s vital in preventing and repairing oxidative damage to cells. In horses residing and grazing in selenium-deficient geographic areas (including the Pacific Northwest, Great Lakes, and New England regions of the United States), this antioxidant capacity could be compromised if owners don’t provide selenium supplementation. Impaired immunity, elevated blood levels of muscle enzymes, and tying up have all been reported in horses with selenium deficiencies.

In the recent UK study, which took place over 18 months, Mieke Brummer, PhD; Laurie Lawrence, PhD; and colleagues randomly assigned 28 pasture-kept horses (eight mature geldings and 20 nonpregnant, mature mares) to one of four treatment groups: low selenium (LS), adequate selenium (AS), high organic selenium (SP), or high inorganic selenium (SS). The AS horses served as controls, and the researchers maintained them on a diet formulated to provide 120% of National Research Council (NRC)-recommended dietary selenium intake throughout the study.

To deplete horses’ selenium stores, the other three treatment groups consumed a diet consisting of 60% of the NRC’s recommended selenium intake for the first 196 days. Blood samples taken during this period confirmed that horses’ selenium stores had been depleted

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Kristen M. Janicki, a lifelong horsewoman, was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and later attended graduate school at the University of Kentucky, studying under Dr. Laurie Lawrence in the area of Equine Nutrition. Kristen has been a performance horse nutritionist for an industry feed manufacturer for more than a decade. Her job entails evaluating and improving the performance of the sport horse through proper nutrition.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
338 votes · 338 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!