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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 507
Location: Lost in the corn of Iowa. | Can someone please help me with how to keep a balance of Omega 3 and Omega 6 oils in a horse diet. I've been reading that Omega 6 is bad and Omega 3 is good. But when I look on the label of what I'm feeding the ratio is backwards to me. I'm looking at the Healthy coat label. I don't want to jack my mare up any more than she already is. Any clarity on this topic would greatly help. Thanks in advance. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 581
Location: Fort Collins, CO | 6's are 'bad' per say. they are more unfavored than 3's but it's the ratio you want to watch out for! omega 6's may promote inflammation because of the pathways that are taken when it breaks down.
You want a ratio of at least 1:1 3:6 and up to 3:1. So does the healthy coat have corn oil in it? search what ingredients are in it--because that will be why the ratio is higher in 6:3. Hope this helps! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 507
Location: Lost in the corn of Iowa. | I does help. The oils in Healthy Coat is Soybean and Flax oils, so based on the ratios this should be ok. There isn't any corn oil in it. So based on the ratio along with my hay I should be ok. Thanks for the clarity.
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Blessed 
 
Location: Here | shorti056 - 2015-04-05 10:22 AM 6's are 'bad' per say. they are more unfavored than 3's but it's the ratio you want to watch out for! omega 6's may promote inflammation because of the pathways that are taken when it breaks down. You want a ratio of at least 1:1 3:6 and up to 3:1. So does the healthy coat have corn oil in it? search what ingredients are in it--because that will be why the ratio is higher in 6:3. Hope this helps!
I agree... I want a higher omega 3 ratio! Yes some omega 6 is needed but not much |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | A small amount of Omega 6's are necessary, but since they are inflammatory, you want twice as many omega 3's. |
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Expert
Posts: 1695
Location: Willows, CA | This topic is confusing. More so as to the proper ratios that you want in your feed concentrates. This depends on the the type of feed it is, and how much you feed. If it is a grain based feed that you feed four or more pounds of per day you are going to be high in 6's. If it is a higher fat feed that is fed at a low rate in place of grain, and contains little or no grain, you want more 6's to offset the much higher O3 found in quality hay. The reason you would want this is so that the O6s are not completely overwhelmed in the entire diet. While O6 is also an essential fatty acid, excess O6 is not a good thing. Neither is completely overwhelming the body's ability to generate some inflammation to aid healing when acute injury happens. So, with higher grain rations, much higher O3 can be a good thing. With little grain and no corn oil, the entire diet can and will be in balance with a higher O6 to O3 ratio in the added feed as long at the total added O6 is not extreme. As always, it is about the balance and ratio in the entire diet that needs to be right.
Edited by winwillows 2015-04-05 4:52 PM
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 507
Location: Lost in the corn of Iowa. | Ok that makes sense. Thanks, I feed a pound of Max E Glo rice bran and a pound of Standlee alfalfa pellets per day. Added into that is THE MM and 2 oz of Forco. And I am feeding good quality grass/alfalfa mix hay. So adding an oil like Healthy coat would be beneficial as a top dressing? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 585
Location: Texas | https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/are-omega-6-fats-really-that-... |
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Expert
Posts: 1695
Location: Willows, CA | Girls_Gotta_Jet - 2015-04-06 12:56 PM
Ok that makes sense. Thanks, I feed a pound of Max E Glo rice bran and a pound of Standlee alfalfa pellets per day. Added into that is THE MM and 2 oz of Forco. And I am feeding good quality grass/alfalfa mix hay. So adding an oil like Healthy coat would be beneficial as a top dressing?
If your horse has no known chronic issues like arthritis, you should be within normal range with your current diet without adding an O3 supplement. On an older horse a little more O3 in the diet may help. Most of the numbers that are thrown around on this topic are originally taken from human studies. The real relationship between omega 6 and omega 3 in the horse has pretty limited data. I think most agree though, that having a slightly higher ratio of 3 to 6 for the whole diet can be a benefit to horses. |
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