Joint Supplement Ingredients We Don't Use and Why
- 13 hours ago
- 7 min read
Equine joint supplements are some of the most sought after (and lucrative) products on the market. Horse owners need to decide if it is worth the expense to extend the productive lives of working and performance horses, and to improve the comfort of our older equine companions.
And if so - which one?
We feed all of our horses joint support, and have seen an improvement in the long term. Over 20 years we have selected the most effective and affordable ingredients for our supplements, which we have talked about in other posts.
Our goal is to supply joint support at a price point that makes it a no-brainer.
We have already written articles about the ingredients we use in our Sound Advice joint supplements, with links to the research providing evidence of their efficacy. You can find that here:
Let’s compare some of the popular (and expensive) ingredients on the market that we don’t use and why:
Biota Orientalis
Bio what? This is the main ingredient in 4cyte. It's blended with green lipped mussel (discussed below). It also contains 'marine cartilage'. Do you mean sharks? How is that sourced?
Other names for Biota orientalis include Oriental arborvitae, Chinese arborvitae, and Oriental thuja.
This is a very common hedging shrub. You will know this tree when you see it. You might even have one in your front yard.
"Has been shown in research to stimulate healthy cartilage production, repair joints affected by age, injury and arthritis, and suppress inflammatory chemicals responsible for poor joint function and pain."
The source here is a vet clinic selling the product.
Here is research on biota orientalis in horses:
Please take the time to read this research paper, funded by Interpath Global, Ballarat, Australia, which is the parent company of 4cyte.
16 horses included in the study were under 5 years old. Osteoarthritis was “induced” i.e. deliberately lamed via surgery, and all horses in the trial were euthanised at day 70 of the trial for post mortem examination. Tragic.
Please be assured that no young (or old) horses have ever been lamed and euthanised in order to determine efficacy for any Sound Advice supplements. We trial our supplements on our own horses who all have names, and are loved members of the family. I put it to you that a much better proof of efficacy is horses well into their mid-thirties that have been on these supplements for 20 years, and still moving well.
This is a positive study of biota orientalis in humans for arthritis. The authors of the study had a financial interest in the products being researched.
This mouse study on biota orientalis for is for gout - specifically looking at the content of quercetin. You can buy quercetin on its own at a chemist, or gym supplement store.
I'd love to see a trial of biota orientalis against just a plain quercetin supplement. You're looking at about 5g per day of quercetin for a horse, which might end up being more affordable.
Maybe 4cyte is amazing. We haven't used it. I am personally horrified that 16 young horses were deliberately lamed and euthanised to prove efficacy. Surely they could find any number of aged horses with existing joint conditions to include in their study?
Please give us your feedback.
Green Lipped Mussel
Green-lipped mussels (Perna canaliculus) are a type of shellfish native to New Zealand, widely recognized for their potential benefits in supporting joint health in horses. They are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, including eicosatetraenoic acid (ETA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), which have anti-inflammatory properties. Additionally, they contain chondroitin sulfate and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), essential for maintaining cartilage integrity and resilience.
Here is a study in horses
Clinical evaluation of horses with a fetlock lameness treated with LPPC showed a significant reduction in severity of lameness (P<0.001), improved response to the joint flexion test (P<0.001) and reduced joint pain (P = 0.014) when compared with horses treated with placebo.
Many horse owners use green-lipped mussel supplements to help manage joint issues. Some of the reported benefits include:
Improved Joint Mobility: Omega-3s help ease stiffness and enhance flexibility.
Reduced Inflammation and Pain: Useful for managing arthritis and other joint conditions.
Support for Cartilage Health: Chondroitin sulfate and GAGs contribute to cartilage strength.
Faster Recovery After Exercise: Helps reduce post-exercise soreness.
When selecting a green-lipped mussel supplement for horses, consider:
Source and Quality: Look for products sourced from New Zealand, where mussels are sustainably harvested.
Purity and Processing: Cold-processed supplements retain more beneficial nutrients.
Dosage: Technyflex, which is the most popular GLM supplement recommends 1g per day. In the research that proved efficacy, horses received 25 mg/kg bwt/day of GLM, which would be more like 10 or 12g. That's ten times as much.
We have used green lipped mussels successfully in the past, but when feeding multiple horses per day, it was too time consuming to syringe over the tongue for each horse daily.
Chondroitin
Chondroitin is a naturally occurring substance found in cartilage, the connective tissue that cushions and supports joints. It is commonly used as a supplement for horses to help maintain joint health and reduce inflammation.
Stated Benefits of Chondroitin for Horses
Joint Health Support: Helps maintain cartilage integrity and promotes regeneration.
Reduced Inflammation: Has anti-inflammatory properties that can help alleviate joint pain and stiffness.
Improved Mobility: Supports flexibility and ease of movement, especially in aging or performance horses.
Enhanced Performance: Helps maintain joint health in active horses, reducing the risk of injury.
How Chondroitin Works
Chondroitin is a glycosaminoglycan (GAG), a type of sugar molecule that attracts water to cartilage, providing lubrication and shock absorption. As horses age, their cartilage can wear down, leading to joint pain and inflammation. Chondroitin helps protect and repair cartilage, making it an essential component of joint maintenance.
Chondroitin is often combined with glucosamine and MSM (methylsulfonylmethane) in joint supplements for enhanced benefits. It is available in powder, pellets, and liquid forms, making it easy to mix with feed.
Sounds great! Yes?
Chondroitin is usually either bovine sourced, or shark cartilage. "Marine cartilage" has ethical and sustainability questions.
Further, this study questions whether chondroitin is actually absorbed. The bioavailability for chondroitin sulfate is relatively low and is inconsistent, with a range of 0-32 % in horses.
How come it’s rarely sold on its own? Why is it always blended with another joint supplement?
We don’t include chondroitin in our joint supplements because it is very expensive - even wholesale. We did at the beginning, but we didn’t seen enough evidence anecdotally in our own horses or from customers, that it contributes in a significant way to the other ingredients in Relief Mix to justify adding to the unit cost.
A priority for Sound Advice is to supply joint support at a price point that horse owners will supplement their old horses who are not in work, so we took it out, which meant we could reduce the price.
Hyaluronic Acid
Hyaluronic acid (HA) is naturally found in a horse’s synovial fluid, which lubricates joints and helps maintain smooth movement. It plays a crucial role in reducing friction between cartilage surfaces and absorbing shock.
Joint Lubrication: Enhances the viscosity of synovial fluid, allowing for smoother movement.
Anti-Inflammatory Properties: Helps reduce joint inflammation and pain, particularly in horses with arthritis.
Cartilage Protection: Supports connective tissue repair and helps prevent joint degeneration.
Recovery Aid: Beneficial for horses recovering from injuries or intense training.
Forms of Hyaluronic Acid Supplements
Injectable HA: Often used for performance horses or those with severe joint issues.
Oral HA: Available in gel, powder, or liquid form, making it easy to mix with feed.
HOWEVER research in humans and other species has demonstrated that the oral bioavailability of HA is poor. It is susceptible to degradation and absorption from the intestine is limited. https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/15/9/2247
So - better as a joint injection?
Here's an article on that.
The main take-away from that is this paper showing that practitioners only inject centro-distal joints at 42% accuracy.
That means joint injections go into the right spot less than half the time.
Price Comparison
4cyte is about $342/kg
at 10g per day = $3.42 per dose
Technyflex is $400/kg
At their recommended rate of 1g per day = $0.45
2 important notes
At 1 gram per day, you will need to syringe over the tongue - added into feed you could easily lose 1g in dropped feed. It also smells bad, so horses will sift it out.
Further - let me emphasise - in the research horses received more like 10-12 grams of GLM not 1g, which would be closer to $5.00/day
I’m not saying GLM doesn’t work at 1g per day, but that’s simply what the research demonstrates.
Joint injections are on average $400 per joint, followed by 10 days of stall rest. If you inject 4 joints twice per year, you’re looking at on average $60 per week - $8/day.
Equine Joint Plus (Glucosamine MSM Chondroitin) $158/kg
At 30g per day = $4.72 per dose.
Compared to our joint support?
Sound Advice Relief Mix is $65/kg
At 30g per day = $1.95
Sound Advice Turmeric Joint Mix is $39/kg
At 30g per day = $1.17
And cheaper still when bought in larger bags.
We offer these supplements in 1kg bags, which is about a month's supply. 1 month is long enough for you to trial, in an affordable way, whether these supplements are a good fit for your horse.
We use human grade, highly efficacious ingredients, which we have used on our own horses, daily, for well over ten years - sometimes twice that.
We use what works, we don't use what doesn't work, and we don't use ingredients that might work, but don't make good economic sense for the average horse owner.