B Vitamins

Once feed is digested and absorbed, it must be converted into energy to be incorporated into tissue for growth or weight gain or to fuel the body’s various metabolic activities. There is a whole host of biochemical pathways through and most of these depend on B-complex vitamins to operate at maximum efficiency.

Pyridoxine (vitamin B6) plays an essential role in the interaction of amino acid, carbohydrate and fatty acid metabolism and the energy producing citric acid cycle. Over 50 enzymes are known to depend on B6 coenzymes. Vitamin B6 deficiency can lead to a number of problems including retarded growth, poor appetite, anemia and weight loss.

Thiamine is very important for the normal function of the citric acid cycle. In this cycle, breakdown products of carbohydrates, fats and proteins are brought together for further breakdown and synthesis. High grain diets result in a greater requirement for thiamine. Thiamine deficient animals may be weak with poor appetites, weight loss and incoordination (especially in the hind legs) and exhibit nervousness that contributes to inefficient weight gain. A deficiency in thiamine can result in a number of different nervous disorders and hyper-irritability. Nervous horses are often poor doers. Ensuring that thiamine status is optimal is a key step in improving weight gain.

Folic Acid is required for several important reactions of intermediary metabolism including the biosynthesis of the purine and pyrimidine components of nucleic acids that are needed for cell division. Folic acid is essential for normal immune response and deficient animals may have a reduced number of white blood cells. Folic acid deficiencies may also result in reduced weight gain and anemia.

Pantothenic acid is found in two enzymes, coenzyme A and acyl carrier protein, which are involved in many reactions in carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism. A deficiency of pantothenic acid may lead to loss of appetite, reduced growth rate, poor general condition and reduced feed conversion.

Vitamin B12 is an essential part of several enzyme systems that carry out a number of very basic metabolic functions. A general function of B12 is to promote red blood cell synthesis and to maintain nervous system integrity. A deficiency of B12 will lead to a loss of appetite and reduced weight gain.

FOCUS WT has high levels of added pyridoxine, thiamine, folic acid, pantothenic acid and B12 to improve metabolic efficiency by enhancing the efficient conversion of the digested feed to body tissue for weight gain or to energy for work. FOCUS SR contains high levels of pyridoxine. Please see SOURCE Products: for Horses, for more information.

Digestion

Horses evolved as grazers that depend heavily on bacteria living in their digestive tract to digest the plant fiber that makes up the largest part of their diet in the wild. These bacteria live in the horse’s large intestine (hindgut) and are extremely important to the horse’s overall health and well being. A number of the important vitamins and co-enzymes needed for proper hoof and skin growth and repair are produced by these beneficial bacteria. The first step in developing a sound nutrition program for every horse is to insure that these bacteria are healthy and functioning properly. If an older horse has trouble maintaining or gaining weight regardless of what you feed, or if a horse has a dull hair coat and brittle hooves, the problem may very well be in the gut. The wrong number or type of bacteria will result in the production of potentially toxic substances such as strong acids (primarily lactic acid) and ammonia.
There are several steps that can be taken to make the hindgut more healthy:

1. Provide plenty of good quality forage. These bacteria need a high quality source of fiber to digest. Feed at least 1% of the horse’s body weight per day as dry forage matter.

2. Feed supplemental beneficial bacteria to the horse. These supplemental bacteria are often called probiotics and include lactobacillus acidophilus and streptococcus faecium. Once they arrive in the hindgut, they can compete with the pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli that may have inhibited the hindgut of your horse.

FOCUS SR, and FOCUS WT contain generous levels of these live beneficial bacteria (probiotics). Please see SOURCE Products: for Horses, for more information.

3. Feed supplemental yeast culture to the horse. Yeast does not normally live in high numbers in the horse’s digestive tract, but research has shown that if a particular strain of live yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is fed to horses, these yeast will survive in the hindgut and stabilize fermentation occurring there. These yeast will moderate the pH so that the hindgut doesn’t get too acidic and will improve the beneficial bacteria’s ability to digest plant fiber. These bacteria will also stimulate the production of microbial phytase, an enzyme that is necessary to digest and absorb much of the phosphorus that is contained in forage and cereal grains.

FOCUS HF contains the leading live yeast culture available for horses. Please see SOURCE Products: for Horses, for more information.

4. Feed fermentation metabolites to the horse’s feed. When the yeast are actively fermenting and growing, they produce a number of metabolic end-products such as B-complex vitamins and growth factors. These metabolites will improve the health and viability of the bacteria living in the horse’s hindgut.

FOCUS HF, FOCUS SR and FOCUS WT contain a wide spectrum of these fermentation metabolites. Please see SOURCE Products: for Horses, for more information.

Antioxidant Comparison

Measurement of Anti-Oxidant Activity
of Three Commercially Prepared Seaweed Meal Samples of Fucaceae Ascophyllum Nodosum

Methodology Ref.
“Use of a Free Radical Method to Evaluate Antioxidant Activity”,
W. Brand-Williams,et al. 1995
Performed at The Institute for Applied Algology,
Reported by Prof. Zakir Ramazanov

A significantly higher measured anti-oxidant (anti-free radical)
activity was detected  in Sample A

as compared to Samples B and C.
Visual inspection also suggests that Sample A is
from a higher quality
processing method (color, aroma).

Sample A: Provided by SOURCE, Inc. N. Branford, CT USA
Sample B & C: other commercial production samples.

IODINE IN THE HORSE: TOO MUCH OR TOO LITTLE

Iodine is an essential nutrient for reproduction and normal physiological function in the horse. Thyroxine contains iodine, and this hormone along with triiodothyronine (T3) has powerful effects on the overall health of the horse. These hormones influence nearly every process in the body, from heat regulation and feed utilization to proper bone growth and maturation.

Iodine Deficiency

Nearly 75% of the iodine in an animal’s body is in the thyroid gland. Iodine deficiency may result in goiter as the thyroid gland enlarges in an attempt to produce thyroxine. In the horse, goiters often occur in the foal at birth. Foal goiter may result from a deficiency in iodine in the mare’s ration during pregnancy or it may be caused by a goitrogenic substance. Symptoms of iodine deficiency may be a stillborn foal or a very weak foal at birth that cannot stand and nurse. The foal may also have a rough haircoat, contracted tendons, angular limb deformities or other abnormal bone development. A Russian study (Kruzkova, 1968) indicated that mares which had shown anovulatory cycles responded to iodine supplementation.

Iodine Toxicity

While iodine deficiency is the primary cause of goiter in foals, excessive levels of iodine may also cause this condition. The maximal tolerable dietary concentration of iodine has been estimated to be 5 mg/kg (PPM) of dry matter (NRC,1980), equivalent to 50 mg of iodine/day for a horse consuming 10 kg of dry matter daily.

The horses most sensitive to high iodine levels are foals from mares who are supplemented with high levels of iodine. Iodine is concentrated across the placenta and in milk so that the fetus and nursing foal receive much higher concentrations than are present in the mare’s ration. Therefore, goiters may be present in newborn foals while sparing the mother A dietary intake of 83 mg I/day is the lowest level reported to have caused goiter in a horse more mature than a suckling foal (Drew et al, 1975). Baker and Lindsey (1968) reported that goitrous foals were born on three farms which were feeding mares high levels of iodine. The incidence of goiter was proportional to the level of iodine fed and equaled 3% on one farm feeding 48-55 mg I/day, 10% on a farm feeding 56-69 mg I/day and 50% on another farm feeding 288-432 mg I/day. A neighboring farm which did not have any goitrous foals fed iodine at a rate of 6.3-7 mg I/day.

Sipple (1969) reviewed a case in which 11% of the foals born on a farm had goiters. Analysis of the diet revealed that the mares received between 160-400 mg I/day. Coincidentally, the author discovered that the manager of this farm was the brother of the manager of one of the farms in Baker’s study in Florida. apparently, the Florida horseman had prescribed the same iodine supplement for his brother’s horses 1,000 miles away. Drew et al (1975) reported that on one stud farm in England four foals were born with greatly enlarged thyroids and leg weakness. One mare also had an enlarged thyroid. Feed analysis showed that the mares had received 83 mg I/day from a proprietary feed during pregnancy. The year before the introduction of this proprietary feed, the mares received a vitamin / mineral supplement which supplied about 12 mg I/day and there was no problem with goiter on the farm. The results of these studies are summarized in Figure 1. It appears from these reports, that around 50 mg of dietary iodine is required in the daily rations of mares to produce any incidence of goiters in their foals. One other study (Driscoll et al, 1978) reported goitrous foals from mares receiving 35 mg I/day. There is some question, however, about what levels of iodine the mares in this study actually received. The authors reported that the mares were given 12 ounces per day of a supplement which was reported to contain 58 PPM iodine. The guaranteed analysis on the product’s label stated that it contained 340 PPM iodine and independent analyses of the same product revealed that it contained at least 580 PPM iodine, a level 10 fold higher than reported in the paper. Using the manufacturer’s guarantee, the mares would have received a total of 131 mg I/day and according to the independent analyses, a total of 212 mg I/day. These levels are within the ranges reported to produce goitrous foals in other studies.

Dietary Iodine

Toxic dietary iodine concentrations may result from adding excessive supplemental iodine, such as from ethylenediamindihydroiodide (EDDI), to concentrates or from using feedstuffs high in iodine. A common feedstuff that may contain excess iodine is kelp (Laminariales), a specific family of seaweeds that may contain as much as 1,850 PPM iodine (NRC,1989). Unfortunately, people have a tendency to classify all seaweeds as kelp just as the layman might consider every breed of horse a Thoroughbred. There are numerous other specific seaweeds that contain considerably less iodine than kelp. SOURCE®, a dietary micronutrient supplement for horses, CONTAINS NO KELP. It is made from a blend of certain other dehydrated seaweeds including Fucaceae, Palmariaceae, Gigartinaceae, Bangiaceae, and
Ulvaceae. The seaweeds of these Families which are utilized in SOURCE contain considerably less iodine than kelp. In addition, all components used in SOURCE are analyzed for iodine, as is the final product blend. SOURCE, at the recommended feeding level of 1/2 ounce per 1,000 lbs. body weight, provides approximately 9 mg of iodine. This amount of iodine is well below the levels reported to cause problems in horses. In fact, many of the “control” farms reported in the literature fed this level of iodine to their horses with no suggestion of iodine toxicity in either the mares or foals.

Conclusions

Goiters in horses can be cause by either too much or too little dietary iodine. It is of paramount importance that the actual dietary intake of iodine and the possible presence of goitrogenic substances be established before treatment is administered. All too often, additional iodine is given to goitrous horses when the diet already contains excessive iodine. The mare’s ration should be evaluated in instances of foal goiter since iodine can be concentrated in the fetus and in milk. A common culprit in many cases of iodine toxicity in horses is kelp. SOURCE contains no kelp and at its recommended level of intake provides a safe and effective amount of dietary iodine which will safeguard against iodine deficiencies in horses.

References

Baker, H.J. and J.R. Lindsey. 1968. Equine goiter due to excess dietary iodine. J. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc. 153:1618.

Drew, B., W.P. Barber, and D.G. Williams. 1975. The effect of excess iodine on pregnant mares and foals. Vet Rec. 97:93

Driscoll, J. et al. 1978. Goiter in foals caused by excess iodine. J. Am. Vet., Med. Assoc. 173:858

Kruzkova, E. 1968. Mikroelementy i vos proizvoditel-‘naja funkeija kobyl. Tr. Vses. Inst. Konevod-stvo. 2:28 (as cited in Nutr. Abst. Rev. 39:807, 1968).

National Research Council. 1989. Nutrient Require-ments of Horses. Washington D.C.: National Academy Press.

National Research Council. 1980. Mineral Tolerance of Domestic Animals. Washington D.C.: National Academy Press.

Sipple, W.L. 1969. A Veterinarian’s Approach to Stud Farm Nutrition. Eq. Vet. J. 1:203


A: 6-7 mg I/day. No suggestion of iodine toxicity in mares or foals. Baker and Lindsey (1968).
B: 9 mg I/day. Level of iodine supplied from SOURCE®.
C: 12-14 mg. I/day. No suggestion of iodine toxicity in mares or foals. Drew et al (1975).
D: 83 mg I/day. Lowest reported level of dietary iodine shown to cause goiter in a horse more mature than a
suckling. Drew et al (1975).
E: 48-55 mg I/day. Goiters in 3% of foals. Baker and Lindsey (1968).
F: 56-69 mg I/day. Goiters in 10% of foals. Baker and Lindsey (1968).
G: 160-400 mg I/day. Goiters in 11% of foals. Sipple (1969).
H: 288-432 mg I/day. Goiters in 50% of foals. Baker and Lindsey(1968).

SOURCE Nutrient Digestability

A Preliminary Study: The Effect of SOURCE® Supplementation on Nutrient Digestibility in Mature Horses

A complete collection digestion trial was conducted at an independent research metabolism unit in order to evaluate the effect of SOURCE supplementation on nutrient digestibility in horses. Four mature horses were fed a sweet feed and grass hay diet with or without SOURCE supplementation in a two-period, switch back design trial. Each period consisted of a three-week acclimation period followed by a five-day collection.

It should be noted that the design of this trial was longitudinal. This design does not eliminate possible period effects. The manufacturer was concerned that the test period was so short that no benefit might be measurable in that brief a time. However, several indictor results were of particular interest, and if confirmed, would suggest an underlying mechanism for the frequently reported benefits of SOURCE supplementation. For example, zinc showed an increase in apparent digestibility of 127%. The 1989 NRC (Nutrient Requirements for Horses) estimates that a horse is able to utilize only 5 to 10% of the zinc provided in the diet. To enable a horse to utilize more than twice as much of its dietary zinc is indeed significant. Through a mechanism not yet understood, SOURCE appears to have dramatically affected, and improved, the bioavailability of this essential nutrient. Zinc is critically involved in such areas a embryogenesis, collagen formation (including bone, cartilage, tendon, and skin), wound healing, glucose and lipid metabolism, and feed efficiency (utilization). 
Note: SOURCE® is a proprietary blend of dehydrated seaweed meals used as a source of dietary micronutrients. No Laminaria kelps are used, and iodine levels are controlled and safe. The manufacturer is SOURCE,INC.,101 Fowler Road, North Branford, CT 06471 USA. (203) 488-6400.


“A Preliminary Study: The Effect of SOURCE® Supplementation on Nutrient Digestibility in Mature Horses”

SOURCE Additional Analysis

ADDITIONAL ANALYTICAL INFORMATION

The proprietary blend of our SOURCE® and Micro-MAX® micronutrients is derived from the most nutrient dense natural materials available–the ocean’s herbs– the seaweeds. Unlike our increasingly trace mineral bankrupt agricultural soils, the growing medium for the seaweeds is the oceans’ waters, nature’s richest storehouse of nutrient building blocks.

Exciting research is concentrating on the extraordinary natural compounds in the seaweeds and their applications for human health. These include (but are not limited to!) the fucans (sulfated polysaccharides), phytochemicals, oligosaccharides and various radical scavenging antioxidants. Research has pointed to these and other compounds as having significant anti-tumor, antiviral, antigenotoxic and anti-mutagenic activity. As research in the future years continues to unlock “the secrets of seaweeds”, we predict that this material will come to be recognized as the single most potent, useful, bio-active natural plant material on earth.

The information below shows concentration ranges of various macrominerals, vitamins and trace elements.
* those which have already been identified as “essential”.
**those which are now under consideration for “essential” status, and many for which no need has yet been established.

MACROMINERALS (min. unless noted as max.)

Sodium 3.5% (max) Calcium 1.2%
Sulfur 2.1% Magnesium 0.7%
Potassium 1.5% Phosphorus 0.1%
VITAMINS
10-140 mg./lb 2-9 mg./lb.
Xanthophyll K1, Phylloquinone
Beta-carotene Pantothenic Acid
Choline Ascorbic Acid
Folic Acid Biotin
Inositol Thiamine
B12 Niacin
Pyridoxine, B6 Riboflavin B2
Alpha Tocopherol: 172 I/U/lb

TRACE MINERALS

* =essential

* * = currently considered possibly essential

100-999 ppm
Iodine * Iron * Aluminum ** Bromine **

1-99 ppm 

Boron ** Barium** Cobalt * Selenium *
Manganese * Antimony** Vanadium * Niobin
Zinc * Silicon* Gold ** Platinum
Copper * Lantanum Chromium * Tellurium
Titanium ** Germanium** Cesium ** Nickel *
Fluorine * Rubidium **

40-1,000 ppb (parts per billion)

Strontium * Thorium Tungsten ** Cerium
Zirconium Gallium ** Thallium Iridium
Rhodium Lithium ** Uranium Molybdenum *
Osmium Radium Tin * Bismuth
Palladium ** Beryllium ** Indium Silver **

 

Often Imitated, Never Duplicated – Why?

The success of SOURCE is attracting many imitators who would have you believe that, just because what they offer contains seaweed or kelp, it is “the same as SOURCE”, or “as good as SOURCE” or it is the “generic brand of SOURCE”.

Although these products may contain seaweed meals, the similarity ends there! None have ever succeeded in duplicating the effectiveness of SOURCE.

SOURCE, INC. has complete control over its product formulation and quality from the point of harvest through the final blend. With its own processing seaweeds, SOURCE, INC. is not dependent on other suppliers who sell whatever is available. Other supplement companies commonly purchase a single species of seaweed (generally the cheapest and most readily available) without knowledge of or control over the many factors which influence the final product quality.

It should be noted that SOURCE contains no Laminaria kelp. The “kelps” are often used in other products. However, we feel that the high iodine content, as well as other problems, preclude their use as safe and effective nutritional ingredients.

Laboratory analysis can be used to demonstrate the superiority of SOURCE (although we feel the most valid test is the results you see for yourself). For example, although SOURCE should not be considered a therapeutic “vitamin supplement”, it does contain low levels of vitamins in their naturally occurring form. If you know about hay quality, you know how vulnerable vitamin content can be to processing techniques. (Improperly cured or “old” hay, for example, has lost the green color due to loss of carotene.) How does SOURCE measure up using this indicator in overall product quality?

comparison graphWe tested SOURCE and samples of four other seaweed products. The higher vitamin levels in SOURCE shown in the graphs above prove that SOURCE excels, verified not by “label” claims, but by independent laboratory analysis.

More and more often we hear from customers who have tried “BRAND X”, did not get the results they expected, and have come back to SOURCE.

The choice is yours!