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> Susan, are you saying yes that fats are good for the endurance
> horse????
> Will it cause higher temps on our horses or a dependency and
> grudual loss of effectiveness?
> Is fats better for anerobic or areobic work? Just want to make
> sure I'm understanding your posts. Thanks Linda
>
Since Susan mentioned that she had to study I thought I'd jump in
here:
I don't know how much work using high fat diets in horses has
been done, but studies are accumulating which have shown them to be
quite effective in humans and rodents DURING TRAINING. After as
little as 1 week on a high fat diet runners were able to use more fat
during extended bouts of running. By using fats and sparing their
muscle carbohydrates they were able to continue exercising longer.
Since glycogen levels will limit maximal performance feeding a high
carb diet just prior to competition still makes sense. Susan
mentioned one study in men that used an 80% fat diet with good
results in terms of exercise capacity but with digestive problems.
Other studies have used less fat, maybe 45% of total calories with
good results during training. However, there are some important
considerations here. Humans and rodents are omnivores and can
tolerate easily a high fat diet; how horses fare might be different.
Beyond that, high fat diets are still associated with cardiovascular
diseases.
Fats are utilized aerobically, meaning oxygen is required
to produce energy. So the lower the intensity of exercise the
greater the fat use. The higher the intensity the greater the
dependence on carbs. During very prolonged exercise at low relative
intensity fats will be extensively used by the slow twitch muscle
fibers during muscle contractions
Beth Glace, M.S.
Sports Nutritionist
lb@nismat.org
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