Essential Amino Acids

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TwoStroke

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Are there any supplements on the market which supply good levels of the essential amino acids?

I've seen equitop myoplast, but only about 10-15% of the product is made up of amino acids, the rest is kelp and sugar. Seems like a bit of a joke? It certainly doesn't contain useful amounts of lysine, which is the first limiting amino acid.

None of the main stream feed manufactures seem to list what percentage of the protein in their feeds/balancers is made up of EAAs.
 
Linseed contains methionine.

Most supplements (and all the 'barefoot' ones) contain lysine.

There has been no research in any of the others afaik so we all assume they get it from their general diet.

I've read Dr Kellon recommend protein whey powder for horses struggling to put muscle on.

I found a decent source of this here, if it was ever needed.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251162337054?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649
 
Thanks Oberon. I'd always discounted whey powder due to it not seeming like a natural feedstuff for a horse, but if dr kellon thinks it's ok then it must be worth another look.

Is equine nutrition behind the times, or is all animal nutrition so poorly researched? I don't have any other animals, so nothing to compare against. It seems so odd to not know some of these things, when we know so much about human nutrition.
 
They get all essential nutrients from good quality grass, so assuming they are getting enough turnout on good ground, don't have any illness/injuries etc then there shouldn't be any need to feed supplements
 
heebiejeebies said:
They get all essential nutrients from good quality grass, so assuming they are getting enough turnout on good ground, don't have any illness/injuries etc then there shouldn't be any need to feed supplements
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Thanks for your thoughts :)

This hasn't been my experience, though. Especially in winter. Most pasture has an unbalanced mineral profile, and in winter can be severley lacking in nutrients.
 
heebiejeebies said:
They get all essential nutrients from good quality grass, so assuming they are getting enough turnout on good ground, don't have any illness/injuries etc then there shouldn't be any need to feed supplements
Click to expand...

I doubt more than 10% of horses wintered on good ground with good quality grass this winter in the UK.
 
I feed straight Lysine from Progressive Earth. Only works out at about £8 for 3 months supply!

I am feeding it along side Healthy Tummy, Speedibeet & Linseed and am having brilliant results without it costing the earth (which myoplast does). Once the offer is over on HT I may well switch to AlfaOil & a GP vit/min instead but at the moment its only £8.99 a bag.

Alfalfa & Sugarbeet are good sources of Lysine but at the quantities i`m feeding don`t have quite the amount needed.
 
TwoStroke said:
Thanks Oberon. I'd always discounted whey powder due to it not seeming like a natural feedstuff for a horse, but if dr kellon thinks it's ok then it must be worth another look.

Is equine nutrition behind the times, or is all animal nutrition so poorly researched? I don't have any other animals, so nothing to compare against. It seems so odd to not know some of these things, when we know so much about human nutrition.
Click to expand...

I asked the instructors on the equine nutrition course that some of us have been doing about feeding milk powder etc to horses and this was the reply I got:

While milk products offer a good quality protein source for foals and young horses, they are not advised to be be fed to horses over the age of about 4 years old. There is usually a good percentage (~50%) of lactose, a milk sugar, present in these products and horses lose the ability to produce the enzymes to digest this as they get older. Amounts fed in excess of 100g/100kg of body weight in a single feed have been shown to induce diarrhea. In addition, it is also expensive. There are much better ways of improving condition in horses and it starts with good quality forage and plenty of it :)
 
If you have a lack of protein (in ireland most hay is very low and funny, in Germany or France it is high) you can help yourself with an easy trick.

Beetpulp will not do harm to a horse it allmost fiber and pectin.

So you can compare it to hay despie the fact that the nutritional value is about 50% higher then hay.

But Beetpulp has about 6 gram of Lysin per KG of dry matter despite the fact that it is low in protein at total.

Now soak the beetpulp and stir in soy bean meal. Soy bean meal is the best source for protein at all.

Per KG of soy bean meal (49% protein) you will have about 30 gram Lysin.

Now please don`t give a KG of this, add only on what is missing.

Remenber, also a horse in absolut full heavy work will not need more then about 1.2 gram of digestible protein per kg of bodyweight.

It will tolerate up to 2 gram per kg of body weight, but this is hardship for the liver and kidney.
 
Whey Powder, Whey Protein: What is the difference?

Whey protein is the highest quality protein you can get, with an amino acid profile that almost perfectly matches the profile of amino acids that muscles need to build and grow. Whey protein is also high in branched chain amino acids which provide muscles with a valuable source of energy. Not surprisingly, whey protein is sought after by horse owners and trainers to add to diets where horses need to 'muscle up' and particularly in cases where additional topline is needed.

However, there is a bit of a catch that many people fall into when purchasing this ingredient. You can buy 'whey powder' which is relatively cheap and sounds like what you should be buying to provide your horse with whey protein. The catch is, whey powder is 'whole whey' which only contains around 13% whey protein and is over 50% lactose. Using 'whey powder' provides horses with very little whey protein (there is only 13 grams of protein in every 100 grams of whey powder) and puts a lot of lactose into their gut. Adult horses don't have the lactase enzyme necessary to digest lactose (essentially they are lactose intolerant) so feeding 'whey powder' can lead to diarrhea and colic if too much is fed.

If you want to add whey protein to your horse's diet, look for whey protein concentrate or whey protein isolate. These products have had most of the lactose removed (they will contain less than 10% lactose) and will be 75% to 90% whey protein. The whey protein isolate is generally produced for use in human food products and is often quite a bit more expensive than whey protein concentrate, so if you want to use whey protein, the best choice for your horse's ration is a whey protein concentrate.

Dr Richards Feed X L.
 
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