ISSUE FOCUS 66 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE September 2024 “During the transition period, dairy cows exhibit an insulin resistance status to compensate for the negative energy balance phenomenon that is called glucose sparing effect. Insulin responses play a critical role for a successful nutrient partitioning as insulin resistance limits glucose uptake by peripheral tissues and prioritizes high glucose demand by the mammary gland.” TRANSITION PERIOD CHALLENGE The transition period for dairy cows is a challenging time due to all metabolic changes that take place going from a non-lactating to a lactating state. Nutrient partitioning must switch to support milk production in the mammary gland, but the increase in energy requirement cannot be fulfilled by ingested nutrients alone. This imbalance results in adipose tissue mobilization since there are insufficient glucose precursors available for gluconeogenesis in order to support milk production. Consequently, ketosis occurrence is the most prevalent metabolic disease in early lactation and often is associated with other metabolic diseases, including fatty liver disease, displaced abomasum, retained placenta and metritis. INSULIN ROLE During the transition period, dairy cows exhibit an insulin resistance status to compensate for the negative energy balance phenomenon that is called glucose sparing effect. Insulin responses play a critical role for a successful nutrient partitioning as insulin resistance limits glucose uptake by peripheral tissues and prioritizes high glucose demand by the mammary gland. To support the glucose sparing effect, it was thus hypothesized that low systemic insulin levels could contribute even more to minimize glucose absorption in peripheral tissue. Therefore, nutrition impacts on insulin secretion raised interest to assist dairy cows in mitigating potential early lactation challenges. CAPSAICINOIDS DESCRIPTION AND EFFECT Capsaicinoids are pungent compounds from red chili peppers, with capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin being the main active components. Capsaicinoids have a demonstrated effect on feed intake, enzymatic secretion and immune response. More recently, an effect on energy metabolism in dairy cows was also observed. A study investigated the effect of rumen protected capsaicinoids (RPC) supplementation in dairy cows during a glucose tolerance test and showed a decrease in serum insulin concentration while glucose concentration was not affected. It was correlated with a tendency to increase milk production and feed efficiency. These results suggested that by decreasing insulin secreSUPPORTING GLUCOSE SPARING EFFECT IN EARLY LACTATION COWS WITH PHYTOMOLECULES Sebastien Constantin Global Product Specialist ADM
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