DR. LYDIA GRAY: Hi, SmartPak fans.
I'm Dr. Lydia Gray, the Staff Veterinarian, Research
and Medical Director here at SmartPak.
Sitting next to me is Christine Warzecha.
She is the Equine Technical Specialist
at Diamond V. Would you like to tell them a little bit more
about yourself?
CHRISTINE WARZECHA: Hey, SmartPak fans.
Part of my role at Diamond V is to work with our greater R&D
team to develop equine and canine research trials to test
our products' mode of action.
I have a Master's degree from Texas A&M University
in Equine Nutrition and I'm a Registered Professional Animal
Scientist.
My graduate work focused on how different diets impact
the equine cecal microbiome.
And this work is published in the Journal of Animal Science.
DR. LYDIA GRAY: Nice.
At SmartPak, we use research to help us develop formulas
with ingredients that are shown to support overall health
and wellness in horses.
And to do this, we rely on both the benchtop
trials and clinical trials, with benchtop trials being the lab
studies and then the clinical trials
being live studies in animals.
So to set this up for today, what we're going to talk about
is we had Diamond V do a study on three of our most popular
digestive support supplements.
And that is the SmartDigest Ultra Powder, SmartDigest Ultra
Pellets, and SmartGI Ultra Pellets,
because those three contain the Diamond V yeast culture.
CHRISTINE WARZECHA: I'd first like
to give credit to Dr. Andrea Binnebose,
Diamond V's Senior Research Microbiologist for conducting
the trial at Diamond V's in-house Research
and Innovation Center.
Part of Dr. Binnebose's key roles at Diamond V
are in understanding our products mode of action,
new product development, and investigating
the complex interactions between host and pathogen
during the course of a disease.
DR. LYDIA GRAY: Wow.
So back to this specific study, what we're trying to do
is look at these three digestive supplements
and show that they support hindgut health by increasing
the levels, the production, of volatile fatty acids
or VFAs in the hindgut, which Christine
is going to explain later.
But first, I wanted to say that you guys did the study using
a benchtop model, or lab model, that you all
developed in your laboratory that showed--
what it does it mimics--
it's really cool because it mimics the microbial activity
of the hindgut of the horse.
And the hindgut being the cecum and the large intestine.
So first, explain what volatile fatty acids are
and why they're important and then maybe
hit us with the results of the study, just like you
if you can, in one or two sentences.
CHRISTINE WARZECHA: Volatile fatty acids
are small compounds produced by the fermentation of fibers
by microorganisms in the cecum and colon
in the large intestine.
DR. LYDIA GRAY: OK.
CHRISTINE WARZECHA: The major volatile fatty acids produced
are acetate, propionate, and butyrate.
And these can actually be absorbed directly by the horse
to use as an energy source.
Specifically, volatile fatty acids like butyrate
have been shown to help with issues
like leaky gut and intestinal inflammation in mammals.
DR. LYDIA GRAY: Excellent.
CHRISTINE WARZECHA: In our benchtop model,
we observed increases in all three VFAs
using SmartPak products, indicating
that they have the potential to help digestive efficiency
and supporting hindgut health in horses.
DR. LYDIA GRAY: Excellent.
All right.
Let's back up just a little bit and talk
about the ingredient itself, Diamond V yeast culture.
What is it?
Where's it come from?
Because that's really cool.
And then why is it so important in the health
of horses and other species?
CHRISTINE WARZECHA: Sure.
Since 1943, Diamond V's has been manufacturing
natural, unique yeast cultures made
from a proprietary fermentation of Saccharomyces
cerevisiae yeast.
This fermentation process produces
hundreds of bioactive compounds that the horse
uses to support its digestive and immune system.
Original XPC Ultra contains metabolites
that have prebiotic-like activity
to help support the hindgut.
Think of the metabolites in XPC Ultra like food
for the immune system and food for the gut microbiome.
DR. LYDIA GRAY: Great.
CHRISTINE WARZECHA: I want to note that not all yeast
cultures are the same.
And the metabolite makeup in our product
is very different than other competing
products on the market.
Plus, Diamond V products have been
validated by extensive peer reviewed published research.
DR. LYDIA GRAY: Excellent.
Now, for the good part, Christine
is going to walk us through how they actually did this study.
So in the scientific lingo, this is
what we call the materials and methods section.
So, take it away.
CHRISTINE WARZECHA: First, fresh fecal samples,
which served as the source of microbes for this trial,
was collected from three horses fed a non grain
diet, which consisted of only timothy and alfalfa hay.
The fecal material was then mixed with a buffered solution
and then mixed mechanically.
This solution and mixture was then placed in individual tubes
in equal amounts which contained either the alfalfa timothy hay
which served as the control or the alfalfa timothy hay
plus the SmartPak supplement, which served as the treatment.
DR. LYDIA GRAY: OK.
Got ya.
CHRISTINE WARZECHA: From there, the tubes
were then incubated in an overnight heated chamber, which
allowed the microbes to ferment the treatment or the control
diets.
Then the liquid that was produced from the fermentation
process was tested for the presence of volatile fatty
acids, measured by gas chromatography.
DR. LYDIA GRAY: OK.
So it seems clear now that you guys really
did recreate or mimic what goes on
in the horses' own intestinal system because you took hay
and you pre-digested it like the stomach would and sent it down
to the hindgut.
And then you also using-- that was
the purpose of the fecal samples was a source of microorganisms.
And so now you've totally mimicked
what happens in the hindgut.
And then you put in the supplements
and see how they effect that.
And you measured the VFAs.
CHRISTINE WARZECHA: Exactly.
DR. LYDIA GRAY: Very cool.
So now let's talk about the results.
CHRISTINE WARZECHA: All SmartPak supplements
produced higher acetate, propionate, butyrate,
and total VFAs compared to control.
DR. LYDIA GRAY: Yea.
CHRISTINE WARZECHA: SmartGI Ultra, in particular,
produced the highest amounts of acetate, propionate, butyrate
and total volatile fatty acids.
DR. LYDIA GRAY: Super.
CHRISTINE WARZECHA: These results provide evidence
that original XPC Ultra, with SmartGI Ultra,
and SmartDigest helped to promote digestive efficiency
and health in horses.
But horses of all life stages, classes, and breeds and ages
can benefit from supplements to support microbiome health
in the hindgut.
DR. LYDIA GRAY: That's what we want.
So next steps are, so, what do we do with this now, right?
I'm very pleased to say that Dr. Binnebose has submitted
this paper to the 13th International Equine Colic
Research Symposium in Edinburgh, Scotland.
But if you can't wait, or you can't go,
or you can't wait to see the proceedings,
you can read a summary of the research on our website.
I think we're putting the link up in the video on the screen.
And it will also be in the description below.
So with that, we want to thank Christine
for spending time with us today to go through the research.
And we want to thank you for watching.
Have a great ride.