Glycaemic and insulinaemic responses of adult healthy warm-blooded mares following feeding with Jerusalem artichoke meal.
Authors: Glatter M, Bochnia M, Goetz F, Gottschalk J, Koeller G, Mielenz N, Hillegeist D, Greef J M, Einspanier A, Zeyner A
Journal: Journal of animal physiology and animal nutrition
Summary
# Editorial Summary Researchers investigated whether Jerusalem artichoke meal (JAM), a prebiotic supplement containing fructo-oligosaccharides and inulin, could modify glucose and insulin responses in healthy mares by comparing it against a control feed in a crossover design across six animals over two three-week periods. The horses received standardised rations of oat grain and meadow hay (meeting light-work energy requirements) supplemented with either JAM at 0.15 g/kg bodyweight daily or maize cob meal, with blood sampling at nine timepoints across five hours post-feeding to measure plasma glucose and serum insulin concentrations. Whilst JAM feeding produced no significant differences in peak glucose (6.3 vs 7.0 mmol/l) or insulin levels (0.508 vs 0.476 nmol/l) or area-under-the-curve measurements over 120 and 300 minutes, the more rapid decline in both glucose and insulin concentrations until 240 minutes post-feeding with JAM showed a trend towards significance (p=0.053 and 0.056). Although these findings are preliminary in a small cohort of non-obese animals, the apparent acceleration of blood glucose and insulin clearance with prebiotic supplementation warrants larger, longer-term investigations—particularly in metabolically compromised or obese horses where postprandial glycaemic control is clinically relevant.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Jerusalem artichoke meal did not reduce glucose or insulin spikes in healthy horses at the supplementation level tested, so it may not provide metabolic benefits for normal horses
- •The trend toward faster glucose and insulin clearance with JAM warrants further investigation in larger studies and potentially in metabolically-compromised horses
- •Current evidence does not support routine use of Jerusalem artichoke meal as a glycaemic management tool in healthy, non-obese horses
Key Findings
- •Jerusalem artichoke meal supplementation (0.15 g FOS+INU/kg bwt/day) did not significantly change postprandial glucose or insulin peaks in healthy mares compared to control
- •Glucose and insulin levels declined more rapidly until 240 minutes postprandial following JAM versus control feeding (p=0.053 and p=0.056)
- •No significant differences in area under the curve for glucose (AUC120: 997 vs 1015 mmol/l·min; AUC300: 1943 vs 2115 mmol/l·min) or insulin (AUC120: 49 vs 42 nmol/l·min; AUC300: 94 vs 106 nmol/l·min) between JAM and control treatments