Re: Just a spoon full of sugar...

["Susan Garlinghouse" <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

> If it is true that a little bit of sugar helps electrolytes be
>  absorbed, (true for people, I'm assuming it's also true for
>  horses, but I'm not sure,) but too much sugar slows gastric
>  emptying...Then, when dealing with a 1000 lb horse, where does
>  mixing powdered 'lytes with molasses fall?  Too much glucose?
>  Not too much?


True, but the spoonful or two of syrup or sugar or whatever you mix in won't
be enough to cause problems.

It wasn't all that long ago that they finally discovered that the cells
responsible for transporting sodium from the gut into the bloodstream are
dependent on glucose to work.  Thousands upon thousands of people have died,
essentially from dehydration, when they had one of the enteric
diseases---the doctors tried to keep them hydrated with electrolyte fluids
and they died anyway.  Turns out had they given them a bit of glucose with
the e'lytes and fluids, they would have been able to keep them alive until
they recovered from the disease.  There but for a bit of Gatorade go
I.....:-)

Susan G