Dietary supplementation with short-chain fructo-oligosaccharides improves insulin sensitivity in obese horses1

Abstract

Obesity and insulin resistance are risk factors for laminitis in horses and ponies, and diet can play an important role in modulating these risk factors. Dietary supplementation with prebiotic fibers, such as short-chain fructo-oligosaccharides (scFOS), has resulted in improvement of insulin sensitivity in obese dogs and rodents. Thus, we hypothesized that scFOS may reduce insulin resistance in obese horses and designed a study to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation with scFOS on insulin sensitivity. Eight mature Arabian geldings (BW = 523.0 ± 56.5 kg) with an average BCS of 8 were included in a crossover study. In each period, 4 horses were provided 45 g/d per horse of maltodextrin (control) and 4 horses received the same amount of scFOS for 6 wk, with a 3-wk washout between periods. Resting plasma concentrations of glucose, insulin, triglycerides, and leptin were measured. Minimal model analysis of a frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test was used to evaluate insulin sensitivity, glucose effectiveness, acute insulin response to glucose, and disposition index. Without affecting BW and BCS, dietary supplementation with scFOS increased (P < 0.05) insulin sensitivity and reduced (P < 0.05) acute insulin response to glucose in comparison with maltodextrin but did not alter (P > 0.05) glucose effectiveness and disposition index. Resting serum insulin concentration also was reduced (P < 0.05) by scFOS supplementation but not by maltodextrin (P > 0.05). There was no effect (P > 0.05) of scFOS supplementation on plasma glucose or serum triglyceride and leptin concentrations. This study demonstrated that scFOS can moderately improve insulin sensitivity of obese horses, a finding that has potential relevance to the dietary management of obese, insulin-resistant horses at increased risk for laminitis.

Development of Mangalarga Marchador suckling foals supplemented with fructooligosaccharides

“…Manso observed 11.3 and 14.1 cm of shin circumference of Mangalarga Marchador foals at birth and at three months old, which corresponds to an increase of 24.8%, while the present study reported an increase of 12.3%. Respondek et al (2011) did not observe differences between obese horses supplemented with FOS and the control group for the morphometric variables of withers height, body length, and thoracic circumference, which is in agreement with the results observed in this study. A similar study was performed with prebiotic supplementation in neonatal dairy calves, evaluating their development from birth up to eight weeks old (Heinrichs et al, 2009) and no significant differences were observed in body weight, thoracic circumference, withers height, and croup height.…”

“…Gürbüz et al (2010) evaluated mature horses receiving supplementation of FOS (30 g/day), mannan oligosaccharides (MOS; 30g/day), and FOS + MOS (15 g/day/each) and did not observe any changes in the weight of the animals, probably because when assessed, they had reached the respective adult weight and did not present any stress situation. The same occurred in the study of Respondek et al (2011), who evaluated obese mature horses after supplementation of FOS for six weeks (45 g/day), and did not observe any significant alteration in weight of the experimental and control horses.…”

Expert consensus document: The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) consensus statement on the definition and scope of prebiotics

“…As their typical diet is high in roughage and feedstuffs that are consumed through out the day, prebiotic interventions might help improve effectiveness of fermentation [150][151][152] .…”

Insulin sensitivity in calves decreases substantially during the first 3 months of life and is unaffected by weaning or fructo-oligosaccharide supplementation

“…Fasting levels and postprandial responses of plasma glucose and insulin, and nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA; means ± SEM) in veal calves fed a milk replacer (MR) diet (CON; n = 10), a MR diet with the addition of short-chain fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS; n = 10), or progressively weaned to only solid feed (SF; n = 10) Age (wk) with differences in insulin sensitivity in calves . In nonruminants, such as dogs and horses, short-chain FOS supplementation improved insulin sensitivity (Respondek et al, 2008(Respondek et al, , 2011. The absence of an effect of short-chain FOS on insulin sensitivity in young calves is not yet understood, but might be related to differences in the dosage administered (in our study calves received a relatively low dosage compared with, for example, horses), the form or period of administration, digestive or metabolic differences between ruminants and nonruminants, or a combination of these.…”

“…Studies in various animal species have shown that dietary short-chain FOS affect whole body insulin sensitivity. In dogs and horses with obesity, for example, an increase in insulin sensitivity was measured after feeding FOS for a period of 6 wk (Respondek et al, 2008(Respondek et al, , 2011. The mechanisms behind the effects of short-chain FOS are poorly understood, but it has been hypothesized that short-chain FOS alters the intestinal microbiota composition, which directly or indirectly increases insulin sensitivity.…”