How Does Corn Oil Affect Gastric Emptying and Plasma Glucose Levels in Horses?

This study was designed to determine if gastric emptying is delayed following ingestion of a grain and corn oil meal compared to a meal of grain alone.

Four mature Arabian horses were studied in a 2 x 2 factorial design study. Horses were fed either a control diet (hay and sweet feed) or an isocaloric diet in which fat was provided by the addition of corn oil. For assessment of solid-phase gastric emptying, the test meals were labeled with 1 g of ¹³C-octanoic acid. Blood samples for measurement of plasma glucose concentration and ¹³C-enrichment were collected to calculate half-dose recover time, time to peak blood ¹³C-enrichment, and gastric emptying coefficient.

Researchers found the addition of corn oil to a meal of sweet feed results in a delay in solid-phase gastric emptying, and the effect of oil on gastric emptying is not affected by short-term adaptation to a fat-supplemented diet. In addition, the slowing of gastric emptying may contribute to the blunted glycemic response following a grain meal containing corn oil.

This report of KER’s 2001 research was published in Proceedings of Advances in Equine Nutrition: Nutrition and Disease.