Joint supplementation new research 2023

The facts are in terms of joint supplements for horses, there has been nothing really concrete in terms of trialing products in live horses as yet. (some positive outcomes of some ingredients in a test tube or very very small number of horses) but overall nothing that would make me tell you all to run out and spend your $ on a supplement for joint health, over a good balanced diet in copper and zinc. With the addition of EPA and DHA.

I have always warned about the large amount of ingredients such as glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate necessary in a supplement in the first place in order to actually make it to the joint.

To be honest that hasn’t changed however I do want to let you know that a very good, double blinded, crossover trial has been conducted a large sample size of horses using a joint supplement.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0737080616304749

In a nutshell using this supplement resulted in:

 significant improvements in lameness scores (less lameness in treated horses),

 less response to flexion tests and

 improvements in muscle tone

The supplement used in this study was ‘FlexAbility’, from Science Supplements, available in the UK.

This contains:

 chondroitin sulfate 162 g/kg,

 glucosamine 190 g/kg,

 vitamin C 80 g/kg,

 methyl sulfonyl methane 256 g/kg,

 docosahexaenoic acid 66 g/kg,

 eicosapentaenoic acid 34 g/kg

If you are looking for the equivalent available in NZ and Australia, the label needs to state per dose per day!

 Chondroitin sulfate = 6g

 Glucosamine = 16g

 MSM = 16g

Please remember the best products in the world are a waste of $ if you don’t have the correct balanced diet in the first place for the gut to work from!