Efficacy Of Oral Joint Supplements: Which Ingredients Actually ‘Work?’

Dr. Rachel Tucker, an associate at Liphook Equine Hospital in the United Kingdom, was on a quest to determine which ingredients, if any, contained in popular equine joint supplements actually worked.

Many oral supplements claim a wide array of effects, including maintaining joint health, offering anti-inflammatory benefits, improving welfare, reducing joint stiffness and pain, and slowing osteoarthritis progression, reports The Horse.

Since most supplements are sold as food products, they are not required to conform to regulations or quality — or to have demonstrated efficacy.

Tucker considered ingredients effective if they achieved a desired response in the joint. They must also be bioavailable when administered orally, and have an appropriate formulation and concentration that matches published studies.

Chondroitin sulfate is a building block of joints; it is bioavailable and reaches synovial fluid and cartilage. It has an anti-inflammatory effect on human joint tissues and has been shown to reduce pain and swelling, as well as to prevent joint space narrowing. Equine-specific studies, however, have shown that chondroitin sulfate has no measurable effect on the horse.

Glucosamine is present in cartilage and synovial fluid; the amino monosaccharide prevents joint breakdown and acts as an anti-inflammatory. Research has shown conflicting evidence: some studies show that glucosamine has slow or no utilization in tissue, while others find that it does have an effect on pain or function.

Boswellia serrata, also called Indian frankincense, claims to be an anti-inflammatory. There have been no veterinary studies on Boswellia serrata's use, so additional investigation is needed, Tucker said. It has shown some benefit in humans who have taken it.

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Turmeric use in humans has demonstrated anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, but it has poor bioavailability. Only one veterinary study has been done to date, and the vets involved thought it showed significant improvement in dogs that consumed it.

While Tucker concluded that there is no concrete evidence that supplements work, they are safe to feed horses.

Read more at The Horse.

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Small Strongyles Showing Resistance To Last Effective Class Of Dewormer

Martin Nielsen, DVM, Ph.D., Dipl. ACVM, Schlaikjer professor of equine infectious diseases in the Gluck Equine Research Center, presented his research on small strongyles at the University of Kentucky's Equine Research Showcase in February.

He spoke about current data showing resistance among cyathostomins (small strongyles) to the three main groups of anthelmintic (anti-parasitic) drugs.

“The small strongyle parasite, which is the type of parasite that all horses get, is the primary parasite category, the one that we are always deworming for,” Nielsen said.

The first class of anthelmintic drugs introduced and administered to combat small strongyles was the benzimidazoles in the 1960s. Because this class of drugs has been in use the longest, there is  wide-spread resistanceto these drugs.

“It is very rare to find these products still working,” Nielsen said.

Pyrantel salts began experiencing resistance in 1996 and Nielsen said it is also likely to find small strongyles resistant to Pyrantel dewormers today.

Macrocyclic lactones (ivermectin and moxidectin) are our “last resort,” with good efficacy, but there have been some questionable early signs of emerging resistance reported, according to Nielsen. In 2020, routine data collected from a farm in Central Kentucky confirmed resistance to macrocyclic lactones among small strongyles.

Nielsen shared data showing that macrocyclic lactones were 100 percent effective against small strongyles in a group of U.S.-bred yearlings, but the same dewormers administered to a group of imported, Irish-bred yearlings failed to remove small strongyle parasites.

“There's no doubt, looking across this data, that we have clear-cut, proven resistance to ivermectin in these imported parasites,” Nielsen said. “The problem is, if we have resistance to everything, what can we deworm with?” he said.

He described that the efficacy of moxidectin was also evaluated against the resistant parasites. Despite this drug being potentially more potent than ivermectin, it did not overcome the resistance and did not provide better efficacy.

Nielsen closed with a final note that ivermectin and moxidectin resistance is occurring in small strongyles. This case was only discovered due to the meticulous testing procedures in place on this particular farm. Without regular testing of deworming efficacy, drug resistant parasites will go undetected and farms will be left without opportunities to intervene before it is too late. Good parasite control starts and ends with testing the dewormers being used and this must be done every year.

Read more here.

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