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Re: [RC] [RC] Magnesium question - was flax seed and thyroid - Eleanor KellonWe've been using for a couple years now over on the Equine Cushing's and Insulin Resistance group but stopped recommending it last year because it doesn't bring their insulins down and some have had their blood glucose go TOO low. With horses that are also frankly diabetic (glucose over 100 or so), it can be helpful though.
Horses are different from people with insulin resistance. People have a component of overproduction of glucose by their livers that horses don't seem to have. Another difference in horses is that they do not have the exaggerated levels of circulating triglycerides that people have. They do have some changes, but nothing like what is seem in people.
Cinnamon works at least in part by correcting insulin resistance in fat cells, and also by having a direct insulin-like effect itself. In horses, the major target organ of insulin resistance appears to be the skeletal muscle with less or no involvement of the fat response to insulin (only fat and skeletal muscle rely heavily on insulin for glucose uptake. All other tissues can take in glucose without it.) In rats, cinnamon also has an insulin like effect in muscle. Otherwise, this is poorly studied. Either horse muscles don't respond to cinnamon like other species do, or the effect isn't great enough to be much help, or in other species the correction of glucose overproduction and high triglyceride release is a big part of why it helps them (and doesn't help horses).
It contains magnesium, but not enough to make a difference. 100 grams (over 3 ounces, compared to the 4 tsp/day a horse would get) has only 58 mg versus the 8000 to 10,000 mg/day a horse requires.
Eleanor
Eleanor M. Kellon, V.M.D. Equine Nutritional Solutions 58 Maple Farm Road Ephrata, PA 17522 On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 12:52 PM, heidi larson <ribbitttreefrog@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Dr. Kellon, what do you think about adding cinnamon for
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