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  Discussion on Bromelain
Author Message
Member:
Seybold1

Posted on Thursday, Nov 10, 2005 - 9:59 am:

I have seen this substance in many of the newer horse joint supplements, in levels form 65 to 550mg per dose.

I have read a little for human use (digestive, anti inflammatory) but what about horses any info on its use and efficacy?

I have a horse that cannot stomach MSM (gives him an upset tummy even at 1500mg) thought maybe the bromelain could be used in its place as an anti inflammatory?
Member:
Jgordo03

Posted on Thursday, Nov 10, 2005 - 4:37 pm:

It is suppose to enable your horse to bread down and Absorb more nutrients from his food. It is an enzyme complex derived from pineapples. Very inexpensive $4.00 for 100/200mg capsules is a good price. Some claim that you can reduce the amount of food you feed.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Nov 12, 2005 - 9:58 am:

There is no research of bromelain in horses that I can find. As you have found there are some initial studies in humans and rats that show some beneficial effects but its use as a supplement for the healthy horse remains anecdotal. Here is one of the more interesting studies where a pharmacological effect is associated with its use:



Life Sci. 2005 Aug 29;
Bromelain improves decrease in defecation in postoperative rats: Modulation of colonic gene expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase.

Wen S, Huang TH, Li GQ, Yamahara J, Roufogalis BD, Li Y.
Department of Health Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.

Ileus continues to be a common consequence of abdominal surgery, causing significant patient discomfort and often leading to more serious problems. The therapy available is limited, hence, ileus remains an important clinical problem. Activation of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) directly modulates intestinal dysmotility after bowel manipulation and plays an essential role in initiating intestinal inflammation. Nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB is known to be a critical component of iNOS gene transcriptional activation in response to inflammatory stimuli. Bromelain is a crude extract from the pineapple stem, which is sold as a nutritional supplement to "promote digestive health" and as an anti-inflammatory medication in some developed countries. Here, we have found that oral administration of bromelain improves decrease in defecation in abdominal postoperative rats. Results showed that bromelain increased the wet weight, dry weight, water content and number of fecal pellets in laparotomized plus mechanically manipulated rats, suggesting improvement of postoperative ileus. Furthermore, bromelain treatment inhibited overexpressed iNOS mRNA and restored down-regulated inhibitor kappaBalpha mRNA in the colon of the postoperative rats. From the in vitro experiments, bromelain inhibits lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitrite overproduction in macrophage cell lines and LPS-induced NF-kappaB luciferase reporter gene expression in RAW264.7 macrophages transfected with NF-kappaB luciferase reporter gene. Thus, our findings suggest that bromelain improves decrease in defecation in postoperative rats, at least in part, by inhibiting colonic iNOS overexpression via NF-kappaB pathway. Our data indicates that bromelain may benefit patients with postoperative ileus.
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