Increase in muscle enzymes after starting a high fat diet in suspected EPSM horse

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flintfootfilly

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Just curious....

For about a year now, I've been trying to get to the bottom of muscle problems in my gang of ponies. Have had a whole load of tests done, including one negative biopsy for EPSM, and 6 ponies testing negative for the EPSM GYS1 mutation. Their diet is known to have been providing only 30-50% of NRC recommended minimum intake of selenium, although blood GSH-px was supposedly “normal” (albeit that the reference range was from other speies).

About a year ago, one of the gang had colitis and a sharp rise in CK within a month of starting on 150ml corn oil each day (his diet was also altered at the time to include more oat straw and less hay, to try and keep the total calorie intake the same each day). He was only ill with the colitis for a couple of days. The CK rose from around 2,500 on the day of the colitis to around 3,500 a month later.

I had assumed at the time that the colitis was related to the increased dietary straw, and it’s been suggested that the increase in CK could relate to increased recumbency, but the more I read about the effect of unsaturated fats in triggering muscular dystophy in selenium-deficient individuals in other species, the more I wonder whether it was a similar effect.

So as I say, just curious whether anyone else has come across anything similar in a horse that has not actually been confirmed to have EPSM but was exhibiting muscle problems?

Thanks.

Sarah
 
Sounds to me like your horses and or pasture/hay may be selenium deficient, I would get the vets to blood sample checking selenium and or Vit E deficiency, it is commonly liked to muslce problems with no other known reason, so would def. get this checked
 
Thanks for your reply. Yes, the forage only has 30-40% of the NRC recommended minimum intake of selenium, and at 0.04mg/kg DM it is at the level associated with nutritional myopathy in other species.

Blood GSH-px (as an indicator of selenium) and vit E both came back as within normal limits, but I am not convinced that the reference ranges are appropriate for horses.

I perhaps should have said that CK levels in the other ponies are significantly reduced (but still above normal in all except one pony) after several months of a good vit/min supplement, but this one pony remains up over 3,000.

But it was the query about whether others had found CK rising when oil was added to the diet that really interests me at this stage. Whilst I understand how oil can help those who definitely have EPSM, I am wondering whether oil can actually increase muscle problems in those who are selenium-deficient (as has been found in other species).

I'll see if I can edit my original post to make it clearer what my query is.

Thanks ever so much for your reply.

ETA: Oops, too late to edit the original post.

Sarah
 
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Ok so your main Question realtes to the oil added to the diet: from my (limited) knowledge on this subject any fit health horse that is given large amounts of oil in the diet must have this balenced by a selenim supplement ( i think it has do do with them cancelling each other out or something) so a horse with already deficient selineum levels the levels will become dangerously depleated without a specific selenium supp. So i would guess the other ponies are not dangerously deficient so a general vit mineral supp. was sufficient to top them up to the normal levels. I would talk to your vet about using a specific selenium supp. Equivite do specific vit E and selenium supp. might be worth a try.

Dose that answer your Q/ Make sense??
 
IS your vet equine specific? I would think they should have looked into the referance range thing for you before reporting and spoken to a refferal hospital about your case as it seems to affect all of your ponies and is on going. Also I am suprised they have not mentioned the risks of giveing high oil in cases like this without additional selenium and vit E supp. I would possibly ask for maybe a second oppinion from an equine vet if you are not being treated by one now.
 
I have never heard of oil supplementation requiring addition selenium. However, I understand that it is widely accepted that extra vitamin E should be given when a horse is on a high fat diet. Is that what you were thinking of?

If not, and if you still feel that it is selenium that is required with oil supplementation, please would you give me the reference/s relating to that. I have read massive amounts relating to selenium over the last year or so, and never come across any mention of it, so would be interested to read if there really is a link there.

I suspect it's unlikely that a high fat diet needs extra selenium supplementation, not least because selenium becomes toxic at such a small increase above recommended levels, so would really appreciate clarity on this point.

Thanks

Sarah
 
Have you researched the effect of selenium deficiency on the liver? Logically I'd suspect that an impaired liver function could cause problems in the metabolism of the oil? Complete guess work here, and you may have already ruled it out. Can't help with any practical experience, I'm afraid.
 
Just a small thought - may not be relevant - but corn oil is not great in terms of omega 3 and 6 ratio
Omega 3 acts to help reduce inflammation, omega 6 tends to promote inflammation - I remember reading an article about it a while ago but have read so much on oil cant remember which one it was in I know the corn oil recommendations are outdated now

The best oil in terms of this ratio: Linseed, Rapeseed (vegetable oil from supermarket)

My horse has EPSM so I cant help you I am afraid but would be really really interested to hear if anyone has any ideas! Also haven't read anything about extra selenium required when feeding more oil, as selenium is toxic if overdosed so would be also interested to hear that article? Natural source vitamin E is essential to be upped to 5000iu when feeding more than 300ml of oil per day (equimins insulin resistance line does this liquid form)

Best wishes and will be following this thread to see any ideas! :) Probably look at whether the exercise program has changed at all since starting the oil too?
 
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