The fact that phytate can bind phosphorus, too (it can bind up to 6
phosphate groups), makes me rather concerned about the fact they turned
around and added calcium. That suggests to me that either a) the
person formulating this supplement didn't know about the phytate
content of rice bran, or b) they DID know and saw it as an opportunity to
piggyback the sale of their mineral. Ah, the joys of having been
inside the corporate feed world....sigh.
Someone on the list (may have been you, Judy) told me recently that
Susan and I scared y'all at times--this may be one of those posts.
Trust me, that's not our goal. What we want to do is help you make
more informed decisions. I have worked in the feed industry, for both
good and bad companies--I know that not all the folks out there formulating
horse supplements at these companies are truly knowledgeable about horse
nutrition. In some cases, they also don't know as much about basic
ration formulation as they think they do, either! This is not a
good combination, IMO. I'm not as knowledgeable about the
nitty-gritty of horse nutrition as I'd like to be because a lot has been
discovered since I graduated...I learn a tremendous amount from
reading Susan's posts. What I try to do is pass along what I
know about feed characteristics and basic nutrition concepts, and apply it
where I can.
That ends today's lecture on rice bran and marketing ploys in Feeds and
Feeding 101. Stay tuned for Susan's upper level discourse on rice bran
for horses! =)
