Hi Maria

I think the problem is that the safety of high fat feeding has not been studied. The ECIR recommendation for 4% fat or less in the diet comes from analysis of the equine's evolutionary diet. based primarily on forage would not be more than 4% fat.

More comments from Dr Kellon:

High fat diet safety in EMS has never been tested and is contraindicated in other species.

https://ecir.groups.io/g/main/message/163420

Also, there are studies showing high fat worsens insulin response such as this one in our files.

https://ecir.groups.io/g/main/files/5%20Core%20Diet/Fats/Fat%20%20and%20Glucose%20Tolerance.pdf

This post is Dr Kellon's explanation of the above study

https://ecir.groups.io/g/main/message/163420

The fat data though is very significant. For years it has been claimed that high fat is good for IR in horses, despite solid data from other species to the contrary. This study shows that's not the case. We still need studies to determine the minimum level to have this effect, in both normal and IR horses.

Eleanor in PA

More comments concerning fat and IR here
https://ecir.groups.io/g/main/search?p=%252C%252C%252C20%252C0%252C0%252C0&q=posterid%3A58231+%22high+fat+diet%22


--
Nancy C in NH
ECIR Moderator 2003
ECIR Group Inc. President/Treasurer  2021-2022