Hops Researched as Possible Aid for Horse Diseases

Hops Researched as Possible Aid for Horse Diseases

Our region produces the nation’s hops — in fact Washington State produces 79 percent to the U.S.’s hops. While most of us think of beer as the main use of hops, there is research being done with a hop extract that may one day help reduce harmful bacteria that causes diseases in horses.

USDA Agricultural Research Service Dr. Michael Flythe shares more about the research process in which the hop extract stops harmful bacteria growth.
Flythe: “We had the bacteria that we had already removed from the horses. We collect it out of the feces and then purify the bacteria out of the feces or we could actually isolate them and work with them the way some doctors do. And then we could test our hop extract against them and show in the laboratory that our hop extract could kill those bacteria. From there we gave the bacteria the same type of carbohydrate that they would see in a pasture-associated laminitis case. So we gave them fructans which is a long chain — a polymer — of fructose molecules. They ferment those and they made acids out of that and we could prevent them from making acids in the presence of hop extracts.”

He warns any horse owners who are now considering finding some hops to feed to their horses to wait.

Flythe: “So this is a laboratory study. We have done a feeding trial for either safety or efficacy with horses. And that is something that I’d like your audience to know. Please don’t go out and buy hops at this point.”

 

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