Questions for Researchers
If any researchers out there have interest or answers to any of the following questions, please contact me. If we have enough participation, perhaps we can start a moderated Bulletin Board to get some answers or good discussion going. We’ll never find the answers unless we start asking the right questions. If anyone has additional questions, contact me to add to this list.
· Does grass fructan (levan type) cause a glucose or insulin spike in equines?
· Rate glycemic response in equines: glucose, fructose, xylose, sucrose, fructans, starch.
· Are insulin resistant equines more susceptible to the affects of fructan? How might the end products of fructan fermenation effect glucose metabolism?
· Are the population dynamics in the equine cecum the same after feeding levans (the grass forms of fructan) and inulin? (the commercially available form of fructan from chicory roots)
· Why does sensitivity to grass increase with successive cases of laminitis? Does an increasing metabolic dysfunction cause the increased sensitivity to the grass, or does the grass cause the increase in metabolic dysfunction?
· If a horse is only insulin resistant, and not really early stage Cushings, could one of the new drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes in humans work?
· If anyone is aware of foals developing phisytis while on improved pasture, with no grain in the diet, I would appreciate you contacting me.
· Do extremes in soil pH enough to limit grass growth correspond to increases in sugar content?
