Fructans and starch are not responsible for most cases of laminitis, Dr Teresa Hollands told delegates at the Laminitis Awareness 2010 seminar.
Most cases of laminitis occur when horses are eating grass. Pasture associated laminitis accounts for 66% of cases occurring in the UK. But what causes the laminitis?
Experiments have shown that giving large meals of starch or fructans can cause laminitis. Large amounts of these carbohydrates suddenly arriving in the horse’s large intestine disrupt the normal population of bacteria in the gut, leading to a cascade of inflammatory and toxic events.
However, Dr Hollands, nutritionist at Dodson and Horrell, explained that this process is unlikely to be involved in the majority of cases of pasture-associated laminitis.
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Article courtesy of Equine Science Update April 2010 edition