FIBREGENIX BALANCER INGREDIENTS BACKGROUND

Protein

• We have ensured that only quality digestible protein sources are used.
• Protein is composed of individual amino acids, some of which your horse can manufacture from dietary components and others which must be supplied in the diet.  These are known as “essential” amino acids and include lysine and methionine, the first limiting amino acids. Ie, those most likely to be deficient in the diet. Our performance balancer contains higher levels for horses whose requirements are high, eg breeding and performance horses.
• The higher the proportion of essential amino acids supplied by a protein source, the better is deemed its quality.
• Protein provides the building blocks of all body tissues, including muscle, tendons, ligaments and hooves.  When fed at recommended levels, our balancers will provide a valuable top up of essential amino acids. This will help aid the formation of the top line and overall musculature that makes a Fibregenix supplemented horse stand out.
  

  Veteran Tuis Moana fed on Prime Original

Oil/Fat

• Seed meals such as linseed and sunflower found in Fibregenix balancers supply the essential fatty acids Omega 3 and 6. Your horse cannot manufacture these for himself, so they need to be added to his diet.
• Your horse’s natural diet of grass is where he would normally get these fatty acids and grass contains a higher proportion of Omega 3 to 6.
• Due to the way they are digested and metabolised, the calories supplied by seed meals are slow-release and non-heating.

Fibre

• Fibre is fermented by bacteria in your horse’s hindgut to produce volatile fatty acids. These can be used as an energy source.  Fibre should be the basis of every horse’s diet and the most cost-effective way to feed it is as preserved forage or fresh pasture.
• Additional digestible fibre from oat hulls, wheat husks and lucerne, is found in all the Fibregenix balancer supplement range.

Vitamins and Minerals

• The balance/ratio of vitamins and minerals in Fibregenix balancers is carefully formulated.  This will ensure your horse receives all he needs to bridge nutritional dietary gaps when fed at recommended levels.
• Specific small molecule chelated minerals are included in all our balancers at tailored levels supporting varying nutritional demands.  “Chelating” is a process whereby minerals are attached to other molecules, eg proteins or simple sugars.  This helps your horse’s body absorb and utilise them more easily.
• The specific chelates in Fibregenix are unrivalled in their bioavailability and are utilised by your horse in a completely different way to other types of chelates.
• Some vitamins and minerals are antioxidant.  They protect body cells from free radicals produced through metabolism and natural body processes.  Fibregenix balancers contain these antioxidant vitamins and minerals at beneficial levels supporting health, performance and well-being.
• Selenium is an important antioxidant and Alkosel’s organic selenium yeast is more readily available than other forms of this trace mineral.
• Fibregenix balancers contain tocopherol-rich extracts of natural origin of Vitamin E for increased bioavailability.

 Digestive Enhancers/functional Ingredients

• This collective term refers to ingredients such as Actisaf Live Probiotic yeast, purified nucleotides, Mannanoligosaccharides & FOS prebiotics.  These are included as part of the digestive packages to help promote your horse’s gut efficiency.
• Actisaf live probiotic yeast is included for its unrivalled ability in stimulating fibre digesting bacteria in your horse’s hindgut.  Maximum benefit is gained when it is included in the diet daily.
• Safmannan MOS acts as a toxin binder removing pathogenic bacteria from his digestive system. It also helps to promote a healthy immune system.
• Profeed FOS is a unique short chain fructo-oligosaccharide which is a food source for beneficial gut bacteria.  FOS enables them to flourish at the expense of pathogenic species. It plays a role in positively modifying the gut microflora.  FOS enhances digestive health and helps reduce the risk of digestive upsets.  Another benefit is its ability to help strengthen the immune system and  to help improve insulin sensitivity in obese horses or ponies.
• Ascogen purified nucleotides have many far-reaching effects in your horse’s body.  Nucleotides help to increase nutrient absorption and aid in red blood cell production to assist in stamina and performance.  They also have a positive influence on immunity.

Non-Heating

• A non-heating feed is one that is less likely to produce excitable behaviour when fed at the recommended rate. Being super low in starch and sugar content and whole cereal free, Fibregenix balancers are classed as non-heating.

Nucleotides are nucleic acid, and are the building blocks of DNA and RNA, so any cell that replicates (which is pretty much all cells!) will replicate DNA and RNA to do so – i.e. repair from an injury/improving the villi that line the digestive tract to aid nutrient absorption/aid the repair of the laminae following laminitis – nucleotides help speed this process up.  As nucleotides will improve the production of red blood cells it also means more oxygen to working muscles = reducing lactic acid production = promoting fitness and stamina = reducing recovery rates.

In the balancers it’s magnesium oxide.  This is because you don’t need as fast an absorption rate as you would do with our calmers.

In the calmer products, it’s water-soluble magnesium chloride, which is the most bioavailable form of magnesium.

Prime Original and Lami Low-Cal contain no added iron in their formulations.  There will be some background iron but not a huge quantity.  It is included in Platinum Pro’s formulation as it forms part of the blood building package necessary for horses in hard work.

Is a Fibregenix balancer supplement safe to feed given that it contains wheat husks and oat hulls?

Remember that Glucose is present and constitutes part of the make up in all feedstuffs! However, the gluten in cereals is all in the grain so oat hulls and wheat husks will have miniscule gluten contents as it is from the hull of these cereals.

Mg/I.U – mg is a measure mass and iu is an international measure of biological effect. So…… 1mg of any vitamin will always be the same mass ie 1mg. However, as iu measures biological effect, 1iu of vitamin E will have a different mass to 1iu of vitamin A so, mg do not equate to iu. Brain imploding at this?

The key thing to note here is the form of the vitamin ie our Vitamin E is comprised of tocopherol rich extracts that are far better absorbed than other ‘natural’ vitamin E or chemically synthesised Vitamin E where only one of four isomers is absorbed. Form defines function!

Although chromium does assist in the regulation of sugar levels in humans there is no research that indicates that horses are deficient in it hence it is not added in Lami Low-Cal. It is generally accepted that additional research is required to determine the efficacy of chromium supplements particularly in the management of insulin resistance

Lami Low-Cal has 8.8% NSC (starch and WSC/ESC sugars). How much is that in grams?

The percentage is always of the finished product.  So 8.8% starch and sugar combined (NSC) equates to 8.8g per 100g Lami Low-Cal. Therefore,  when feeding 500g you would calculate 8.8g x 5 = 44g starch and sugar per 500g Lami Low-Cal. This is an incredibly low amount of starch, when you think that it’s being fed to a 500kg horse. A standard horse feed can be as much as 35% plus of starch, and for a 500kg horse you’d probably have to feed 3kg as per the manufacture’s recommendation.  This would work out at over 1kg of starch! Not ideal for your horse’s starch sensitive digestive system….

The sepiolite clay in Lami Low-Cal works in conjunction with the MOS & FOS  Prebiotic.  It helps reduce the toxin load within your horse’s gut. Imagine it as a ‘buffer’ against the toxins that can be released if the gut becomes too acidic and kills the good bacteria off.  Therefore, the clay aids the recovery of the gut following acidification as well as helping to prevent it in the future.

In Prime Original and Platinum Pro it’s 0.4%, in Lami Low-Cal it’s 0.5%. It means the percent of whatever is being fed – so, if it was 0.4% of 100g, it would be 0.4g magnesium per 100g, so for your average 500kg horse = 0.4g x 500g = 2g per 500g.

Firstly, the protein in Fibregenix balancers is fed in grams not kilograms. Therefore the amount does not equate to an extortionate amount of protein, rather the amino acids that your horse requires on a daily basis. Amino acids are the building blocks of muscle and are essential in your horse’s diet. Your horse will only use what he needs and the excess will be passed in urine. However, this depends on  how well it is absorbed and utilized etc. As with most things, it’s not just the quantity that is important but also the quality. So, a quality protein source will be easily digested and have an amino acid profile similar to that needed by your horse.

Secondly, there is also a difference between crude protein and digestible protein. Digestible protein is the figure we are interested in and the balancers are formulated to  ensure that the balance of digestible protein to carbs and fats is correct.

The “percent crude protein” found on the labels of feeds and supplements is a calculation of the nitrogen content of the product. Nitrogen is contained in the amino acids that serve as the building blocks of proteins.  “Crude” means that not all the protein reported by this number is digestible.

It’s estimated that between 2% – 5% of many common protein sources aren’t absorbed. The percent crude protein number is helpful, but shouldn’t be the sole piece of information used when choosing a feed or supplement.

For instance, crude protein percentage doesn’t tell you the source of protein contained in the feedstuff or the amino acid makeup of that protein.  Therefore it’s more useful when combined with information on the type of protein included in a product.

Fibregenix contains high quality protein sources with an excellent amino acid profile and bioavailability. The protein is derived from dehulled soya bean meal. Knowledge of the lysine and methionine content of a protein source is necessary when properly balancing your horse’s diet. Some labels will include these percentages. However, knowing what ingredients are good sources of lysine and methionine and identifying them in the ingredients list will also enable an informed decision.

Fibregenix will not make horses ‘hot’. The main reasons being

1) it is whole-cereal and molasses free so contains super low levels of sugar and starch.  These are the 2 main culprits that cause fizzy behaviour

2) each balancer contains generous levels of magnesium – the anti-stress mineral. It helps keep horses and ponies settled and relaxed.

3)  each balancer contains digestive aids that help to improve the health of the fore and hindgut. Bear in mind that a lot of ‘hot and fizzy’ behaviour is caused by poor digestive health.

Prime Original doesn’t contain a MOS & FOS prebiotic as it is intended for horses and ponies that are in light-medium work, being spelled or those that simply need to gain weight which the live yeast probiotic and nucleotides combination helps to encourage. The live yeast probiotic in Prime Original helps to settle the gut by promoting the beneficial bacteria and improving fibre digestion, but if a horse/pony had a specific digestive upset/had been on antibiotics then I would recommend feeding Platinum Pro to start with then swapping on to Prime Original.

In general terms, a horse that is being fed Prime Original doesn’t have the requirement for a prebiotic due to its lighter workload and potentially less stressful life circumstances, whereas a harder working/older horse does – hence the reason we would feed them Platinum Pro.