Mulberry leaf ingestion - toxic or beneficial ?
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Solo has a big, dry lot pasture becoming available but there are two Mulberry Trees dropping leaves. I am pretty sure they are White Mulberry. They are obviously tasty as I see other horses nearby eating them as they fall. I have always thought they must have sugar. I have not allowed Solo any leaves since we found out he was IR/PPID due to Solo's strict diet. Now I am wondering are these leaves bad for him? My online research has brought up conflicting information as I tried to discover the sugar content of this kind of leaf.
Healthline.com " Mulberry leaf contains numerous anti-inflammatory compounds. Some research suggests that mulberry leaf may combat inflammation and oxidative stress, both of which are linked to chronic disease." I realize that supplements are not regulated and this is geared for humans but I though it was worth noting. There was another reference to using it for livestock feed and of course feed for Silk worms. In another article, I read that there is latex in the white sap and is toxic. A horse at our ranch was in a different pasture with several of these trees. They are shedding lots of leaves. Harry had some health problems, mild colic, swollen sheath and recently tested positive for PPID. The farrier just found a fever ring on one of his hooves and asked if Harry had been sick. Harry's owner is convinced the Mulberry leaves had something to do with it. Does anyone have any information on Equine consumption of Mulberry leaves? Thank you! -- Peggy J December, 2022 Vista, California Case History: https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/files/PeggyJ%20and%20Solo Photos: https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/album?id=278595 |
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Trisha DePietro
Hi Peggy. If you look at the top of your screen on this forum, you'll see a search box. Type in mulberry and several message discussions pop up for your review. Here is one link from Dr. K https://ecir.groups.io/g/main/message/200082?p=%2C%2C%2C20%2C0%2C0%2C0%3A%3ACreated%2C%2Cmulberry%2C20%2C2%2C0%2C2187793
Hope this helps... -- Trisha DePietro Aug 2018 NH Primary Responder Dolly and Hope's Case Histories Dolly's Photos Hope's Photos HOW TO SEARCH THE ARCHIVES: https://ecir.groups.io/g/main/wiki/1993 |
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I spent a fair amount of time last night searching for information on mulberry leaves. I learned that they should not be toxic to any species but could find nothing on the amount of sugar they contain. One person asked a few years back on behalf of her IR mustang but there were no replies.
-- Martha in Vermont
ECIR Group Primary Response July 2012
Logo (dec. 7/20/19), Tobit(EC) and Pumpkin, Handy and Silver (EC/IR)
Martha and Logo |
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celestinefarm
From Healthline:
Nutrition Facts
Fresh mulberries consist of 88% water and only have 60 calories per cup (140 grams). By fresh weight, they provide 9.8% carbs, 1.7% fiber, 1.4% protein, and 0.4% fat. Mulberries are often consumed dried, similar to raisins. In this form, they contain 70% carbs, 14% fiber, 12% protein, and 3% fat — making them fairly high in protein compared to most berries. Here are the main nutrients in a 3.5-ounce (100-gram) serving of fresh mulberries (3Trusted Source):
CarbsFresh mulberries consist of 9.8% carbs, or 14 grams per cup (140 grams). These carbs are mostly simple sugars, such as glucose and fructose, but also contain some starch and fiber. --Dawn Wagstaff and Tipperary Saline, MI 2003 Tipperary Case History |
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celestinefarm
Ack, that figure is for the berries. Let me go back and find the leaves.
-- Dawn Wagstaff and Tipperary Saline, MI 2003 Tipperary Case History |
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celestinefarm
The following is from an abstract regarding the leaves and gives a large range of carbohydrates. Like grass, growing conditions, etc. likely influence carb content.
Nutritional quality of leaves of some genotypes of mulberry (Morus alba)Affiliations expand
AbstractThis study was undertaken to determine the proximate composition, vitamins, minerals and the antinutritional factor tannic acid in leaves of six genotypes of mulberry. The results showed that in fresh mulberry leaves the proximate composition values ranged from 71.13 to 76.68% for moisture, from 4.72 to 9.96% for crude protein, from 4.26 to 5.32% for total ash, from 8.15 to 11.32% for Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF), from 0.64 to 1.51% for crude fat, from 8.01 to 13.42% for carbohydrate and from 69 to 86 kcal/100 g for energy. In dried mulberry leaf powder, moisture ranged from 5.11 to 7.24%, crude protein from 15.31 to 30.91%, total ash from 14.59 to 17.24%, NDF from 27.60 to 36.66%, crude fat from 2.09 to 4.93%, carbohydrate from 9.70 to 29.64% and energy from 113 to 224 kcal/100 g Dawn Wagstaff and Tipperary Saline, MI 2003 Tipperary Case History |
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Bobbie Day
We have a huge fruitless mulberry tree that spans over our corals, my horses eat them faster than I can clean them up. Desi ate them and although she had two bouts of Laminitis I attributed it to uncontrolled ACTH and Insulin. I have another horse that would rather eat the leaves than his feed. When they drop their leaves it’s A-LOT!
He has never had any problems. I also did quite a bit of research but didn’t find anything. They provide well needed shade so I would hate to have to cut them down. -- Bobbie and Maggie Desi (over the rainbow bridge 7/21) Utah, Nov 2018 ECIR Group Primary Response https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/files/Bobbie%20and%20Maggie https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/album?id=271156 https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/files/Bobbie%20and%20Desi https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/album?id=78821 |
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It's been six years since the question of mulberry leaves came up here! There are now 185 studies related to mulberry leaf effects on insulin resistance and lowering glucose https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=mulberry+insulin&sort=date . The vast majority are in mice or rats with occasional human studies https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9268658/ . If you want to feed them, or allow them to eat them, wait until the leaves are dry to be sure they are sugar and starch safe.
-- Eleanor in PA www.drkellon.com |
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Just as an additional bit of trivia, mulberry has been used as an alternative forage source. See: https://www.feedipedia.org/search/node/mulberry .
-- Eleanor in PA www.drkellon.com |
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Bobbie Day
Interesting Dr.K
thank you -- Bobbie and Maggie Desi (over the rainbow bridge 7/21) Utah, Nov 2018 ECIR Group Primary Response https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/files/Bobbie%20and%20Maggie https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/album?id=271156 https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/files/Bobbie%20and%20Desi https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/album?id=78821 |
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I have to take back what I said about dried mulberry leaves. While the soluble sugar is approximately cut in half, it is still sky high https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6943573/table/molecules-24-04439-t001/?report=objectonly . For humans or rodents, that's not an unusual dietary percentage but we know for horses it's much too high.
-- Eleanor in PA www.drkellon.com |
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The table with the breakdown of what is in Mulberry leaves was extremely helpful in cementing my resolve about not moving Solo to the new dry lot pasture until the Mulberry leaves stop dropping! I knew they must have lots of sugar from how much horses love them!
Thank You Dr. K and everyone!!!! -- Peggy J December, 2022 Vista, California Case History: https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/files/PeggyJ%20and%20Solo Photos: https://ecir.groups.io/g/CaseHistory/album?id=278595 |
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