The Importance of Chelated Minerals

With so many different equine supplements on the market, many people do not realize that their horses may not be getting what they think out of their feeds and supplements. While the ingredient list may look good at first glance, upon further research you will find that just feeding your horse a whole whack of different vitamins and minerals is not the best idea – the type of mineral is what will make the difference.

Chelation is a process where an organic free form amino acid picks up a molecule of a mineral, wraps it within its structure and makes it easier for the organic organism (ie. Our horse) to absorb the mineral. In nature, minerals are dissolved into the soil from rock or sand – these are then joined with organic decaying matter which is rich in amino acids. They are then absorbed by plants, after which organic organisms eat the plants and get the minerals in their proper, natural form. However, many feed companies take their minerals straight from the rock/sand form and put it into their feed without putting the minerals through the chelation process – this makes it much harder for the horse's gut to actually absorb the minerals in the feed/supplements. A simple example can be seen in the Kentucky bluegrass Thoroughbreds. The limestone rich soil is absorbed by the grass, which the Thoroughbreds then eat – they can readily absorb these minerals which have already gone through the natural chelation process. The result is horses with strong bones from the extra calcium. You would not get the same result from just taking the limestone straight from the soil and adding it to your horse's feed – it would be much more difficult for your horse to absorb.

Chelation also neutralizes the magnetic charge of minerals so that they do not combine with a mineral of an opposite valence to create an inorganic compound which is almost useless to your horse.

One hundred percent of chelated minerals are completely absorbed and bioavailable to your horse. Without chelation, minerals can only be absorbed by energy dependant driven processes, making absorption much slower with less guarantee of absorption and the use of more energy. If you want to get technical, minerals should be below 1500 daltons in order to be easily absorbed by the intestinal walls.

Few feed companies chelate their minerals because it is an expensive time consuming process. Others will only include a few chelates in their product – this is also ineffective because you need to include an entire spectrum of chelated minerals in your product. If you only throw a few chelates in a product, certain minerals will be more readily absorbed than others which will create an imbalance.

Check your feed labels before you buy – they should read something along the lines of “amino acid chelate”. The Dynamite products that my clients and I use on our horses are all certified organic, chelated, balanced, and the minerals are below 800 daltons so they are absorbed easily and quickly.

For more information on the Dynamite line of products, click here.