Omega‐3 Fatty Acid Supplementation Provides an Additional Benefit to a Low‐Dust Diet in the Management of Horses with Chronic Lower Airway Inflammatory Disease

Abstract

BackgroundOmega‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) may benefit humans and animals with chronic inflammatory diseases.HypothesisOmega‐3 PUFA supplementation improves clinical signs, lung function, and airway inflammation in horses with recurrent airway obstruction (RAO) and inflammatory airway disease (IAD).AnimalsEight research horses and 35 client‐owned horses.MethodsA pilot study examined the dose of PUFA that can alter plasma PUFA composition. Then, a randomized, controlled clinical trial was performed in horses with RAO and IAD. Horses were fed a complete pelleted diet with no hay and randomly assigned to 1 of 3 daily treatments for 2 months: 30 or 60 g of the supplement or 30 g of placebo. Clinical signs, lung function, plasma PUFA composition, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) cytology were evaluated. Data were expressed as median (25–75th percentiles). P < .05 was considered significant.ResultsPolyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation resulted in increased plasma docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) that peaked at 4 weeks. Clinical improvement was noted in all horses involved in the clinical trial, but the group that received PUFA had greater improvement in clinical signs (cough score improved 60%), lung function (respiratory effort decreased 48%), and BALF (neutrophils decreased from 23 to 9%) when compared to placebo (cough score improved 33%, respiratory effort decreased 27%, BALF neutrophils increased from 11 to 17%; P < .05).Conclusions and Clinical ImportanceFeeding horses with RAO and IAD a PUFA supplement containing 1.5–3 g DHA for 2 months provides an additional benefit to low‐dust diet.