The Daily Reveille
Monday, November 5, 2012
RESEARCH
Professor investigates natural products used for horse ulcers Juliann Allen Contributing Writer
A University professor took horses back to the basics last year, using natural berries rather than pharmaceuticals to heal their stomach ulcers. Veterinary medicine professor Frank Andrews studied the effects of horse stomach ulcer treatment, finding seabuckthorn berries healed some parts of the stomach just as well as prescribed medication. Andrews said some horses, especially those in performance, develop equine gastric ulcer syndrome, or stomach ulcers, causing a deduction in performance, a roughening of the hair coat and ongoing stomach pain for the horse. “What I wanted to do was find a natural product that would prevent those ulcers from recurring,” Andrews said. Andrews tested the use of a natural product called SeaBuck Gastro Plus, a feed additive made from berries from the seabuckthorn shrub. Andrews used two groups of eight horses from the University Vet School and fed each group the same type and quantity of food. He said he added four ounces of the natural
treatment to each horse’s food in one group while leaving the other group without the treatment. They inserted a 9-foot endoscope through each horse’s nose to reach the stomach for periodic examination, he said. After 35 days, Andrews said the glandular ulcers in the lower twothirds of the stomach of the treated group were gone, but the ulcers in the squamous mucosa, the upper one-third of the stomach, did not go away. The natural treatment resembled a treatment used to help stomach problems in humans, he said. A horse’s lower stomach is similar to that of a human stomach, so the medication had a similar effect on eliminating the ulcers. Andrews concluded a horse owner would have to use a prescription to take care of the remaining ulcers in the upper part of the stomach. While some horses tend to be more likely to develop ulcers than others, Andrews said the ulcers may be caused in part by nature and nurture. He said owners feed horses differently from the way they are fed in a “wild horse lifestyle.” Many horses eat sweet feed,
which contains corn and molasses. The horses enjoy it, but Andrews said sweet feed does not necessarily promote the best health for the stomach. Andrews also said esophageal tissue lines the upper one-third of the stomach. When the horse engages in activities like racing, the stomach acid splashes onto the upper stomach area and can cause ulcers. “The problem is in the anatomy of the stomach,” he said. “The whole horse’s digestive tract was made to walk around in the pasture and eat.” Bruce McMullin, CEO and founder of Seabuck, said using natural products saves money and prevents the side effects that come with taking prescribed products. Though a natural diet in horses surpasses prescribed products, McMullin said implementing this diet in horses has not yet caught on with many people. “Typically, people get a level of comfort with something they’ve used in the past, and it’s hard for them to try something new,” McMullin said. Contact Juliann Allen at jallen@lsureveille.com
ELECTIONS
High turnout expected in La. Melinda Deslatte The Associated Press
(AP) — Louisiana candidates seeking to rally an election victory were spending their final days before Tuesday attending football tailgates and festivals, waving signs on street corners and making last rounds of phone calls to pitch themselves to voters. Secretary of State Tom Schedler expected a strong turnout on Election Day, after a record number of voters cast their ballots ahead of time during the weeklong early voting period. More than 340,000 people voted early, nearly 12 percent of Louisiana’s 2.9 million registered voters. At the top of the ticket is the contest between Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Louisiana’s outcome has been expected to be a certain victory for Romney in the Republican-leaning state, so GOP and Democratic volunteers have been asked to travel to swing states to campaign for their candidates there. In addition to the presidential race, also on the ballot are six congressional races, nine constitutional amendments, judgeships and local contests around the state. A seat on the state’s utility regulatory agency, the Public Service Commission, is up for grabs, along with an open Louisiana Supreme Court seat representing the Baton Rouge area. The outcome of most of the state’s U.S. House races seemed to
have been decided in August, when few well-financed challengers signed up to oppose Louisiana’s incumbent congressmen. Republican U.S. Reps. Steve Scalise of Metairie, John Fleming of Minden, Rodney Alexander of Quitman and Bill Cassidy of Baton Rouge have faced little opposition from their challengers and have had to spend little from their campaign war chests, sticking to town hall meetings and mailers rather than widespread TV advertising. Democratic U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond of New Orleans also has had little organized opposition, even though Richmond’s district has taken on a noticeably different shape, moving all the way up the Mississippi River to Baton Rouge after the latest redesign of the state’s congressional districts. The only Louisiana congressional race to involve big spending and strong competition is in the 3rd District covering southwest Louisiana and Acadiana. No matter the outcome, an incumbent congressman will lose his seat. Republican incumbents Charles Boustany and Jeff Landry were forced into the same district when the state lost a congressional seat after the latest federal census, and the face-off has been a bitter battle laden with attack ads and accusations of lies and dirty tactics. The two congressmen are trying to stake out much the same philosophical territory, both running as conservatives, leaving them
to distinguish themselves largely by slamming each other. Landry is running as the Tea Party favorite, while Boustany is considered a more traditional Republican candidate. Landry calls his opponent an example of what’s broken about Washington, claiming Boustany votes with the positions of the national GOP and House Speaker John Boehner over the needs of his district. “It’s a culture of making promises and not delivering,” Landry said at a recent debate with Boustany. “I don’t do what our leadership in Washington tells me or what the Republican Party tells me.” Boustany charges that his opponent habitually skips votes and attacks Boustany to distract voters from his lack of accomplishments during his one term in Washington. He said Landry plays political games rather than working on legislation. The design of the district favors Boustany, but Landry has worked to assemble grassroots support and local GOP endorsements, making the 3rd District race a tight contest. Three other candidates are seeking the seat, but they’ve done little fundraising for their campaigns and little advertising. However, Democratic trial lawyer Ron Richard is expected to siphon off Democratic votes and could push the campaign into a Dec. 8 runoff. Contact The Daily Reveille’s news staff at news@lsureveille.com; Twitter: @TDR_news
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