Gentle Gain – with the power of Rice Bran and Sainfoin

Gentle Gain is a conditioning feed that combines the benefits of two key ingredients: rice brain and sainfoin. Both have been the subject of greater attention by way of research and agriculture in recent years. Because of unique characteristics that in particular, sainfoin provides benefits across its whole lifecycle as a forage feed.

As a feed that combines the two, Gentle Gain is high in calories, contains generous quality protein, minerals, and polyphenols that make it a conditioning feed with a spectrum of valuable nutrients, as well as a feed that contains functional properties.

By way of combination, Gentle Gain therefore contains a wide array of functional feed properties that have the potential to benefit your horse, including antioxidants, beneficial cholesterol and insulin sensitivity effects, prebiotic qualities, bloat reduction, and protein digestibility effects. A functional food/feed means that components within have additional benefits in regards to health, that go beyond nutrition.

But what are they, why are they of benefit, and what does the combination provide?

 

Rice Bran – ingredient of Gentle Gain an its properties

To make the white rice we all know and love, brown rice grains have to be milled and processed. This milling process removes an outer husk layer, and a bran layer, to leave just the white starch rich core behind. The bran layer that’s removed makes up about 10% of the original wholegrain. And once removed it is known as simply ‘rice bran’. Because it’s a specific part of the wholegrain, it has a unique composition as a feed that is very different to what we think of as just rice.

Nutrients of Rice Bran

Rice bran has been long overlooked as a nutritious food or feed. This has been in large part due to how quickly it spoils. In its raw form it has a high fat content and contains an effective enzyme that in combination can cause it to spoil in as little as 6 hours, and meant that in the past it’s mostly been discarded. However new stabilisation methods have been developed and have allowed rice bran to gain much more attention as a valuable feed or food.

The bran layer is so rich in nutrients, that removal was the cause of epidemic levels of nutritional deficiency ‘beriberi’ in the 1800’s as white rice became more widespread in southeast Asia. The bran can be up to 20% oil/fat, and is a rich source of proteins, minerals, fatty acids and dietary fibre.

Functional Feed properties of Rice Bran

Rice bran contains a wide range of bioactive components, including natural antioxidants, such as tocopherols, tocotrienols, y-oryzanol, vitamin E, and carotenoids. It is a rich source of unsaturated fatty acids. As a food for humans, rice brans bioactive components have been linked with a whole host of positive metabolic health benefits, earning itself the colloquial status of ‘heart oil’ and being regarded as a ‘functional’ food, with a number of studies illustrating benefits.

In horses, research comparing rice bran oil with the feeding of corn oil or water for comparison, found beneficial changes to insulin sensitivity and blood cholesterol. In a study with geriatric horses, it was also shown that feeding just 500 g per day supported body condition scores, and supported the number of bacteria populating the cecum, indicating a prebiotic effect. Rice bran contains a range of non-starch polysaccharides, which are a source of slow-release energy that are processed by microbes, and which are responsible for this. This is why rice bran is also considered a functional feed, as it ‘feeds’ horses symbiotic microorganisms.

Rice Bran – Pollinators and Environment

Rice bran is a nutrient rich byproduct of the milling industry that has been greatly underutilised because of the previous difficulty stabilising it for human or animal consumption. This means new interest to including it in our food and feed, with research reviewing its use in lots of different products that might make better use of it in the future.

Including it in products currently prevents valuable wastage of a nutritious feed that is already being produced in great quantity. Therefore it avoids additional environmental pressure of increasing demand for a new or novel resource.

 

Sainfoin – ingredient of Gentle Gain an its properties

Sainfoin (UK) or Holy Clover (US) is a perennial (survives year on year), temperate (mild temperate climate), leguminous (plant family including peas, beans, and lentils), forage (animal feed grazing plant) crop. It’s been growing natively in temperate Europe and Asia for centuries, and was introduced to north America in the early 1900’s.

Nutrients of Sainfoin

As is common for plants in the legume family, sainfoin is higher in protein as a forage than meadow hay variants, and in overall nutritive value generally. It contains a wide array of polyphenols, which are naturally occurring compounds in plants. They vary considerably in type and purpose, and are a large part of the varying uses and nutritive qualities of plants, where they can be used by the plant for controlling growth, physical structure, UV protection, frost protection, predator and microbe deterrence, colour, ripening, and preservation. They are why different plants can have such unique health benefits, and contribute to a healthy and more diverse microbiome when we include varieties of plants/vegetation in our diets.

The biological activity of polyphenols can vary greatly, as they are a family of compounds and therefore vary widely by the species of plant. When sainfoin has been tested, all the parts of the plant contain polyphenols, and the plant as a whole has a unique polyphenol profile. The condensed tannins (CTs, which are types of polyphenols) sainfoin contains contribute to its functional properties, as described below. Research that has assessed the impact of pelleting has shown that its unique properties and nutrition are largely unaffected by this process, and therefore horses can benefit from it when fed fresh, dry or pelleted.

 

Functional Feed properties of Sainfoin

The CTs in sainfoin can form complexes with a variety of different molecules, including carbohydrates, bacteria, enzymes and proteins.

When CTs binds with certain bacteria, it prevents them releasing enzymes that breakdown proteins and produce lots of gas, which is why feeding sainfoin is associated with bloat reduction. Research has shown that as sainfoin feeding increases, ammonia and methane gas production decreases, and that a mixture that contains as little as 10% sainfoin can have this effect.

Because of this, it’s agriculturally mixed into forage diets of alfalfa, as doing this significantly reduces the incidence of pasture bloat in grazing animals, and therefore reduces suffering, save lives, improves yields, and reduces production of harmful greenhouse gases.

Particularly in acidic conditions, CTs bind to proteins and essentially stop degradation by microbes. Once the pH shifts to become more neutral, as is normal when moving through the digestive system, they are released from this complex and become available for gastric and pancreatic digestion, allowing the amino acids then to be absorbed in the intestine. In simple terms, CTs act as a control mechanism for the way proteins are digested, and how quickly they are digested, creating more of a slow processing effect.

This is especially helpful when plant proteins can typically be poorly absorbed because of an immediate and extensive degradation by microbes. CTs essentially save the proteins available to be processed and absorbed in a way that benefits the animal. As a result of this, nitrogen (which is a byproduct of protein digestion) excretion is also impacted, where the work of CTs results in a shift of nitrogen being excreted through faeces instead of urine, which has a secondary environmental benefit of reducing nitrogen pollution.

 

Sainfoin – Pollinators and Environment

Sainfoin has a deep tap root to reach nutrients. It has a long flowering period between June and September, when it produces beautifully striking blooms with stripes that direct bees to the flowers nectar. The accessibility of nectar is such that most honey bee and bumble bee species can reach it. And the nectar is considered to be on the high sugar concentration spectrum for nectars.

When sainfoin is grown as forage, it’s normally mowed late after the flowering period has finished, so it provides bees with not only a highly prized nectar, but that it’s available to them for a long flowering period, meaning its yield to bees is very high. This is probably why it’s thought to yield more honey than any other temperate plant.

Sainfoin is considered to be one of the most economical and sustainable forage sources of nutrients. In grazing animals it is able to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions, increase efficient digestion and use of protein, reduce nitrogen pollution from urine, and is beloved by pollinators. As a legume it generally also requires less fertiliser to grow.

In a research review that assessed the environmental implications of sainfoin as a forage feed, it is considered highly desirable because of the above effects, as well as its ability to sequester atmospheric carbon and nitrogen into the soil (a characteristic that is typical for many legumes). The review promotes its use with respect to climate change.

 

What about starch in Rice Bran and Sainfoin?

To an extent, all plant material will contain naturally occurring starch. But rice is a starch rich grain, so with everything we know about starch, surely rice bran can’t be a good idea? The milling that removes the bran is to produce white rice, which is mostly the endosperm part of the grain and is therefore 90% starch and low fibre. The milling process is focused on separating these parts of the grain, so is trying to leave the starchy endosperm behind. Most is removed, though some does get left behind in the process and makes up the starch content of rice bran, which can be as low as 10%. But this can be variable, which is why it’s important to source it from a supplier that tests the composition.

However, there are different types of starches, which can be loosely grouped into the categories of: rapidly digestible starch, slowly digestible starch and resistant starch. Resistant starch cannot be digested by normal starch digestion pathways and it therefore is unique in that it is slowly digested, if at all. In humans, it is considered to be a type of dietary fibre because of this, and is considered a functional food for the range of benefits it can provide.

Different feeds/foods can have very variable starch profiles, where plants create these in different proportions. Treatment processes can cause changes to the proportion of resistant starch.

This is why it has been suggested that a more insightful way of understanding starch within nutrition is to think of it in terms of:

[Total Starch – Resistant Starch = Enzyme Digestible Starch]

There hasn’t been in depth investigation into rice brans starch profile. But research that has compared white rice to brown rice (where brown still contains the bran) has shown that the resistant starch content is significantly higher in brown rice. It is speculated that the bran components either get in the way of starch digestion, or that phytic acid in the bran slows down starch digestion.

Research has also shown that legumes such as sainfoin are a rich source of resistant starch, which show an inverse correlation with glycaemic index, which means measuring and understanding the glycaemic index of a feed. Its resistant starch content is a better way of assessing suitability for horses than relying on the %starch figure alone.

Gentle Gain provides a low Glycaemic Index

The glycaemic index (GI) was developed for human food, as a way of comparing the way foods affect our blood glucose, by rating them in comparison to a 50 g sugar test. So it’s a way of measuring the quality and impact of carbohydrates rather than the quantity. A low GI means the carbohydrates are digested and absorbed slowly and therefore blood glucose stays at lower and more stable values over time.

There’s been interest in applying a GI to horses because of how relevant this can be to exercise performance, obesity, insulin resistance, laminitis, osteochondrosis, and many other conditions. There is significant evidence to support the health benefits of a diet that primarily contains low GI food/feed, in horses as well as in humans. In research that has assessed the GI of rice bran and other feeds, it has been shown to have a low GI that is comparable to hay.

The mixtures and nutrient composition we feed materials in have an influence on the overall GI, as does the way it is presented such as in pellets and powders. There are individual differences that influence too, such as gastric emptying and consumption rate. And importantly, there’s evidence that the eating of roughage before/after can have a modifying effect. This is why the combination in Gentle Gain is so clever, as the rice bran with a low GI is combined with sainfoin as a forage, producing a low GI feed.

Feeding Recommendations for Gentle Gain

Because the rice bran in Gentle Gain is high in fat, it is dense in calories and horses can adapt easily to it. When a high fat feed is new to the diet, it will take time for their digestive system to adapt to the full benefit of it. This is the reason why research suggests allowing for 3 months of feeding before achieving the full effect of from feeding it. That’s not to say that effects will not be seen sooner, but that the peak efficiency of digesting it will take some time.

It is considered an excellent energy source for horses who need help to gain or maintain their condition because it is calorie dense. Because it is a combination of rice bran with a low GI as part of a forage-based feed, it is an excellent option for any horse, including those with metabolic conditions or sensitivity. It can be used to support any horse needing support for condition, so could also be fed alongside workload requirements, to elderly horses, pregnant mares, mares feeding foals, growing horses, or simply over winter to maintain condition for an average doer.

As with any new feed or supplement, it should be introduced gradually by increasing each day over a period of time up to the feeding rate, so that the digestive system has an opportunity to adapt to the change without adverse effects. Horses can vary as to how quickly they adapt to new feeds, so it is best to be aware of what is normal for your horse, and er on the side of allowing more time rather than less. If droppings seem to have an oily type of presence, then this is an indication to reduce the feeding rate and allow more time for the digestive system to adapt to this amount before attempting further increases.

Why Gentle Gain is a good feed choice for your horse

Gentle Gain combines significant benefits from both sainfoin and rice bran. This means Gentle Gain is/has:

• Highly nutritious
• High in calories
• Rich source of protein, minerals and unsaturated fatty acids
• Contains an array of polyphenols, called condensed tannins
• Antioxidant components
• Metabolic health benefits
• Prebiotic qualities
• Evidence of bloat reduction properties
• Improves protein digestibility
• Low glycaemic index
• Highly valuable to bee species
• One of the most economical and sustainable feeds
• Promotes nitrogen sequestering

 

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