Research

The Bedore lab has an overarching goal of investigating nutritional, metabolic, and physiological causes of inflammation in horses. Inflammation leads to disease states, discomfort, and poor welfare. Therefore, our goal is to identify these causes so that they can be mitigated in the horse’s environment.

• Nutritional causes of inflammation include diets that feed more than 1 gram of nonstructural carbohydrates per kilogram of bodyweight in each meal. This level of intake is most common in horses consuming large quantities of grains such as oats.
• Metabolic causes of inflammation include obesity and insulin resistance.
• Physiologic causes of inflammation include advanced age and intense exercise.

In addition to this main goal we also perform product testing for equine nutrition and supplement companies. This work is essential to provide scientific evidence of product efficacy, such that companies can feel confident in the products they sell.