Sarcoids and diet

[Annagain]

Has anybody heard of managing sarcoids with diet? A friend's horse has sarcoids - he's already had a resection due to a carcinoma on his penis (she's had the new lumps properly checked and they are sarcoids not carcinoma) so she's trying really hard to get rid of them. She's had advice that he needs a really low sugar and starch diet so has been sourcing old hay that she's going to soak when he comes in - they're currently out on good grass, there's not much she can do to change that.

In all my years with horses, I've not heard of this before so I was a bit curious about it - does anybody have any knowledge of it? Is there any science behind it?

 

[Tiddlypom]

Who gave that advice, was it a vet? I’ve never heard of that before, either.

However, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that boosting the diet with certain herbs and supplements can help boost the horse’s immune system and help it to fight off sarcoids. My own sarcoid prone horse included - whilst Sarc-ex made no difference, putting her on oily herbs for her hind gut issues has. It’s not voodoo, it’s helping the horse to heal itself.

She’d been assessed by Prof K as needing prolonged and extensive treatments for sarcoids which could have been the end of her, but since sorting out her hind gut by putting her on oily herbs her sarcoids are also way calmer.

 

[Annagain]

Who gave that advice, was it a vet? I’ve never heard of that before, either.

However, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that boosting the diet with certain herbs and supplements can help boost the horse’s immune system and help it to fight off sarcoids. My own sarcoid prone horse included - whilst Sarc-ex made no difference, putting her on oily herbs for her hind gut issues has. It’s not voodoo, it’s helping the horse to heal itself.

No not a vet, which is why I'm skeptical and looking for more info. I totally get the herbs / supplements, especially things known to boost the immune system, I'm not questioning that at all, just the reducing sugar / starch.

 

[irishdraft]

I've never heard of it either but strangely I have noticed that my retired horses sarcoids which were mainly on his prepuce, have disappeared. He has always had sarcoids pop up since he was a youngster & he's 16 now but he had 2 which have been banded several times over the years have just gone. So he's actually sarcoid free first time since he was 3 .He's only has soaked hay & grass since he retired so maybe there's something in it.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

The lady on Facebook that sells the Sarcoid Centre herbs and paste (not to be confused with the sarcoid cure paste flour & salt) advises that horses should have all refined oils, linseed/flax, rapeseed, soya, wheatfeed/oatfeed (or any other feeds) removed from their diet and low sugar/starch. She feels like it feeds the sarcoids but I am not sure why or how.

You will find all sorts of nuances with all of the sarcoid treatments and a million different beliefs, it's such a minefield.

The sarcoid cure lady believes that getting them wet is bad, and that they thrive off of water.. which I suppose as the paste is flour/salt which will dehydrate them makes sense, but that's another thing I have never heard anyone say before.

Then you get thuja cream/tablets, toothpaste, turmeric paste, bloodroot cream, copper oxide, sarcex, radiance gold, sarcoid cure paste, the herbs & past mentioned above, aciclovir, Imiquimod, banding, lazer, liverpool cream, cryosurgery, zinc oxide, sarcoid salve, 5-Fluorouracil, Silica, Spirulina supplements, Essential Oil Paste... I could honestly go on. And everyone will swear they have all worked for someone, and everyone will also swear it's done nothing and/or made them worse.

 

[Melody Grey]

Google radiance gold- treats sarcoids very successfully through a dietary supplement. The developer is an equine nutritionist who, if I remember correctly, advises a low sugar/ starch diet alongside it.

 

[ycbm]

The problem is that sarcoids quite often resolve spontaneously all by themselves as the horse's immune system clicks in, and a good number of the more obscure "cures" just happen to have coincided a spontaneous regression with feeding or applying x, y or z.

I'm a firm believe in immune system support, and a low carb diet is also likely to reduce systemic inflammation. I can certainly see why getting a fat horse slim will help with sarcoids.
.

 

[Follysmum]

I’m 3 mths into using radiance gold sarc secret with an old boy that has a big sarcoid. Hes fed forage only and it has dried up and not looking as angry. Not sure if this would have happened anyway.

 

[Annagain]

The problem is that sarcoids quite often resolve spontaneously all by themselves as the horse's immune system clicks in, and a good number of the more obscure "cures" just happen to have coincided a spontaneous regression with feeding or applying x, y or z.

I'm a firm believe in immune system support, and a low carb diet is also likely to reduce systemic inflammation. I can certainly see why getting a fat horse slim will help with sarcoids.
.

I agree - there's also the issue that everybody calls every lump a sarcoid when they might not be, although his definitely are so a moot point in this instance. He's not a fat horse, he's slim, ridden 5-6 days a week. He's on good grass but never prone to being overweight, if anything keeping weight on him is an issue.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I’m 3 mths into using radiance gold sarc secret with an old boy that has a big sarcoid. Hes fed forage only and it has dried up and not looking as angry. Not sure if this would have happened anyway.

Radiance Gold is just brewers yeast, milk thistle, fenugreek and bicarb soda so nothing revolutionary. I'm not disregarding any success in treating sarcoids they may have, but it would only be stabilising the acid in the gut really.. Milk thistle is supposed to be anti-oxidant and anti-inflam, fenugreek is high fibre and helps digestion so again, nothing directly sarcoid focused, brewers yeast is essentially a probiotic, and bicarb is an antacid.

 

[Jambarissa]

Improving a horses immune system and biome by correct feeding will never be a bad thing, the body can quite often cure itself.

The more recent human research is showing that unprocessed foods and plenty of variety is the way to go so meadow hay and herbs rather than bagged processed feeds and supplements.

Soaking hay can cause its own problems. Surprisingly given all that sunshine this year's hay is proving quite low sugar and high fibre, according to a friend of mine who does lab work but I did also see that in a reputable blog - maybe simple systems. Could be worth getting it tested rather than introducing bacteria and reducing nutrition by soaking if not needed.

 

[onemoretime]

Radiance Gold is just brewers yeast, milk thistle, fenugreek and bicarb soda so nothing revolutionary. I'm not disregarding any success in treating sarcoids they may have, but it would only be stabilising the acid in the gut really.. Milk thistle is supposed to be anti-oxidant and anti-inflam, fenugreek is high fibre and helps digestion so again, nothing directly sarcoid focused, brewers yeast is essentially a probiotic, and bicarb is an antacid.

Agree with this. It is also very expensive for what it is and the postage is pretty high as well. You could feed all of these ingredients for a lot less.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Has anybody heard of managing sarcoids with diet? A friend's horse has sarcoids - he's already had a resection due to a carcinoma on his penis (she's had the new lumps properly checked and they are sarcoids not carcinoma) so she's trying really hard to get rid of them. She's had advice that he needs a really low sugar and starch diet so has been sourcing old hay that she's going to soak when he comes in - they're currently out on good grass, there's not much she can do to change that.

In all my years with horses, I've not heard of this before so I was a bit curious about it - does anybody have any knowledge of it? Is there any science behind it?

My horses have had vet treatment to rid the sarcoid, and I gave them sarc ex that was it.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

Agree with this. It is also very expensive for what it is and the postage is pretty high as well. You could feed all of these ingredients for a lot less.

I feed it by buying it's constituent parts and mixing it myself, costs me £23.97 for about 2 months' worth.
I also feed sarcex by mixing it myself and it costs me £45.38 for about 2-3 months' worth - albeit I would be missing all of the ingredients that they include in very small amounts as I just took the 4 main ingredients.

If I bought and fed them both it would cost me £274.50 for 75 days worth.

 

[Follysmum]

Radiance Gold is just brewers yeast, milk thistle, fenugreek and bicarb soda so nothing revolutionary. I'm not disregarding any success in treating sarcoids they may have, but it would only be stabilising the acid in the gut really.. Milk thistle is supposed to be anti-oxidant and anti-inflam, fenugreek is high fibre and helps digestion so again, nothing directly sarcoid focused, brewers yeast is essentially a probiotic, and bicarb is an antacid.

I agree and only did this as a short measure
( thinking it may of fell off by now) I am going to individually buy the products, I have most of them anyway.

 

[SantaVera]

I think reducing starch and sugar in the diet is good for any horse I expect that at worse it won't do any harm and at best it could well help.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I agree and only did this as a short measure
( thinking it may of fell off by now) I am going to individually buy the products, I have most of them anyway.

I live in hope that I'll go to the yard one day and Dex's will have magically disappeared.

 

[lynz88]

Mine started developing sarcoids a few years ago when put on beet pulp which was odd as he had been on been pulp before and never had an issue. He continued to grow them despite later bringing him barefoot and changing his diet as it was, at the time, very high in starch and sugar. I had some success with Sarc-Ex but nothing that I would rave about though I did pop out a sarcoid when he was on it which was more than what I was previously seeing in terms of progress. I tried bloodroot cream as well that made them angry and sore and although it fell off, it wasn't the whole sarcoid and was a bloody mess. I then added oily herbs and....they've all either disappeared or shrunk so much that you wouldn't think much about it.