Is Science Lying to Us?
I've been thinking about this blog post for awhile, not just how it relates to horses but (as an analyst) what it means for my day to day life. I'll admit, I love science. It provides comfort. There's an objectivity in math and science that we don't get elsewhere in life. It provides a yes/no answer in a world full of grey areas.
But are those things true?
I scrolled past a post on OTTB Connect where a woman was asking for advice on how to put weight on her hard keeper mare. The picture she shared wasn't too bad. She actually reminded me of Spicy about a year ago.
To me, this horse doesn't look terrible. I'd want to put weight on him, for sure, but it's not an emergency. I'm always curious to see how long it takes for someone to mention forage when putting weight on horses so I looked at the comments and I could not believe the absolute cluster of advice that followed. It ranged from sunflower seeds to corn oil with every type of feed, top dressing and supplement in between. Sure, some people mentioned checking for ulcers or asked how much hay she was getting (the post didn't specify) but for the most part people gave anecdotal evidence of whatever had worked for them.
Curiosity piqued, I decided to look at some of Smartpak's favorite weight gain supplements. Filtering for weight gain supplements and most popular, CocoSoya Ultra SP pops up as a big winner.
When you're shopping for things for your horse - even something critical like feed - remember that any retail company has been designed to sell you things. Every single thing on the web page is designed to incentivize you to buy. Maybe you're immune to marketing. Maybe you want science. I want proof that this is going to help put weight on my horse. Retail has got your back - SP has a Clinical Research section of their product.
If you click on any of those supplements you get taken to a page that has a list of supplements 'backed by research'. It's actually quite a nice list; it has the author, the name of the article and when and where it was initially published. I clicked on Flax Seed first and it directed me to an article called 'Flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum) supplementation associated with reduced skin test lesional area in horses with Culicoides hypersensitivity'. Since I'm a nerd and a student with access to a collegiate library, I looked up the article. It should be pretty apparent from the title that it has nothing to do with weight gain (although, apparently flax seed is great if your horse has sweet itch).
The flax seed link has an 'also ran' and directs you to the Omega-3 Fatty Acid, DHA and EPA sections of the page which all have articles that - shocker - have nothing to do with weight gain. The other ingredients don't fair much better; in fact, the research associated with digestive enzymes is about their effect on the small intestines of rats.
The article about pre- and probiotics has a big, bold warning in it:
None of the research in support of cocosoya supplement says anything about weight gain. The only evidence that cocosoya helps put weight on is anecdotal evidence provided by the people who use it. Anecdotal evidence is not a clinical trial. Even in the reviews you can see that it's not the only thing people are using to put weight on their horses.
You probably think I'm crazy now, as I've gone through an awful lot of effort to show that cocosoya makes your horse pretty and soft but it's not proven to do much else. Sure, cocosoya is a relatively innocuous supplement. But it is constantly touted as a weight gain supplement and it is not. If we as consumers can be misled about that, what else could we be misled about? And while the science itself is not applied deliberately false, it is quite open ended and allows the consumer to interpret it incorrectly.
But back to my original question: does science provide objectivity, truth and finality in a subjective world?
The answer, for me, is that it does. Science does not lie to us. It's humans that create uncertainty and grey areas in the way we use science and scientific results. It's true, all the studies cited in Smartpak's Cocosoya supplement were peer reviewed articles and experiments published in journals. Smartpak just didn't tell you up front what those experiments were about. I'm not trying to bash on Smartpak specifically, but it was very low hanging fruit in how science is misused to sway consumers.
Fortunately it's an easy thing to combat. There's a level of transparency in science that makes it easy to fact check. When someone says 'backed by peer reviewed articles', don't assume that means it's without flaw. The article linking the MMR vaccine to autism was published in a peer reviewed journal and stood for twelve years before it was retracted. It's easy to find abstracts, if not full articles, that can help you decide what's the truth or not.
The lies will crumble under scrutiny. All we have to do is think.
But are those things true?
I scrolled past a post on OTTB Connect where a woman was asking for advice on how to put weight on her hard keeper mare. The picture she shared wasn't too bad. She actually reminded me of Spicy about a year ago.
 |
| Not the actual picture, but about here weight wise |
To me, this horse doesn't look terrible. I'd want to put weight on him, for sure, but it's not an emergency. I'm always curious to see how long it takes for someone to mention forage when putting weight on horses so I looked at the comments and I could not believe the absolute cluster of advice that followed. It ranged from sunflower seeds to corn oil with every type of feed, top dressing and supplement in between. Sure, some people mentioned checking for ulcers or asked how much hay she was getting (the post didn't specify) but for the most part people gave anecdotal evidence of whatever had worked for them.
Curiosity piqued, I decided to look at some of Smartpak's favorite weight gain supplements. Filtering for weight gain supplements and most popular, CocoSoya Ultra SP pops up as a big winner.
 |
| Okay, I'm only buying it if Spicy turns into that cute pony when I feed it to him |
When you're shopping for things for your horse - even something critical like feed - remember that any retail company has been designed to sell you things. Every single thing on the web page is designed to incentivize you to buy. Maybe you're immune to marketing. Maybe you want science. I want proof that this is going to help put weight on my horse. Retail has got your back - SP has a Clinical Research section of their product.
If you click on any of those supplements you get taken to a page that has a list of supplements 'backed by research'. It's actually quite a nice list; it has the author, the name of the article and when and where it was initially published. I clicked on Flax Seed first and it directed me to an article called 'Flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum) supplementation associated with reduced skin test lesional area in horses with Culicoides hypersensitivity'. Since I'm a nerd and a student with access to a collegiate library, I looked up the article. It should be pretty apparent from the title that it has nothing to do with weight gain (although, apparently flax seed is great if your horse has sweet itch).
The flax seed link has an 'also ran' and directs you to the Omega-3 Fatty Acid, DHA and EPA sections of the page which all have articles that - shocker - have nothing to do with weight gain. The other ingredients don't fair much better; in fact, the research associated with digestive enzymes is about their effect on the small intestines of rats.
 |
| Not a horse. |
The article about pre- and probiotics has a big, bold warning in it:
 |
| Most of the studies referenced were done in pigs and rats |
None of the research in support of cocosoya supplement says anything about weight gain. The only evidence that cocosoya helps put weight on is anecdotal evidence provided by the people who use it. Anecdotal evidence is not a clinical trial. Even in the reviews you can see that it's not the only thing people are using to put weight on their horses.
 |
| Was it the cocosoya or the senior feed? Or was it time? |
But back to my original question: does science provide objectivity, truth and finality in a subjective world?
The answer, for me, is that it does. Science does not lie to us. It's humans that create uncertainty and grey areas in the way we use science and scientific results. It's true, all the studies cited in Smartpak's Cocosoya supplement were peer reviewed articles and experiments published in journals. Smartpak just didn't tell you up front what those experiments were about. I'm not trying to bash on Smartpak specifically, but it was very low hanging fruit in how science is misused to sway consumers.
Fortunately it's an easy thing to combat. There's a level of transparency in science that makes it easy to fact check. When someone says 'backed by peer reviewed articles', don't assume that means it's without flaw. The article linking the MMR vaccine to autism was published in a peer reviewed journal and stood for twelve years before it was retracted. It's easy to find abstracts, if not full articles, that can help you decide what's the truth or not.
The lies will crumble under scrutiny. All we have to do is think.
Ugh I love this so much. It drives me crazy how little science is out there on horse things, especially supplements. In my Equine Nutrition class in college, Dr. Marks started it out by saying "You're not going to learn everything about nutrition in a one semester class, but at the very least you'll be able to see through the lies the feed and supplement salesmen are packing."
ReplyDeleteIt sucks that its a sales thing. I do understand that these companies are businesses, not charities, and they need to make money. But I kinda wish they'd make money by making me the best product instead of trying to fleece me into buying something I don't need.
DeleteAs someone who works for the research office of a major university, you're speaking my language. I don't know how many conversations, lectures, arguments I've been apart of regarding animal models and how a study done in rodents can be applicable to higher animal models or humans. Especially when the higher animal models have vastly different GI tracts and diets.
ReplyDeleteyour last point is SO true and what kills me. And it's not to say those studies mean nothing - but how can you quantify if or how it will help a horse based on what happened to the animal in the study? If there was some way to figure out a correlation between species that might help (eg; rats and horses are 10% the same based on structure and diet, so it has 10% weight? I don't know.)
DeleteUgh. Yes yes yes. Also, my horses are both on cocosoya. It does less than nothing for their weight. You'd have to feed so much of it to make a real calorie difference. And I don't think fat actually helps with weight gain that much for horses. However ... damn does it clear up skin issues and dandruff. Both boys glow. (And their nice pastures ensure their ribs don't show either.)
ReplyDeleteditto the 'fat doesn't help' but I think I've already ranted about that.
DeleteIn your case, the cocosoya is doing exactly what it's scientifically proven to do: improve coat condition. So it IS a success!
In my personal experience, supplements work IF you have an actual problem you're trying to solve and IF you choose one with the correct science behind it and IF you're willing to go through trial and error to find the right one... which takes a lot of time and money. For weight gain, especially in Thoroughbreds, I've seen the biggest difference maker in forage. High quality grass, specifically (not JUST high quality hay).
ReplyDeleteThis. 100% But high quality hay will do it, it just takes longer than with grass.
Deleteagreed to all of the above!!
DeleteI mean its just like with people - gaining weight is a calorie in/calorie out issue and so the anecdotal part of putting weight on a horse and keeping it on with these extras is "I'm overfeeding my horse and underworking it"
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong or take offense, I love what you are doing here - But just like with the research paper this post title is misleading on the premise of the meat of the post - it's not "is science lying to us?", it's really "Are humans bad at interpreting science? Do companies use "Science" as an unregulated label like they do with "Non-GMO"?"
Oh also one time I was feeding Dante a flax/omega supplement to help his itchy dry skin and it did help but you know who it really helped? The barn mice - HOLY SHIT - those things got obese and SUPER SHINY.
DeleteI tried to comment on this yesterday from my phone but I think it got eaten.
DeleteI totally agree - and I'll admit it was probably a little click baity of me to do that :P but I think people worry science IS lying to them and it's really not!!! It's just being interpreted incorrectly
Also that's hilarious about the barn mice. Sounds like a replicable study :P
So - yes to (real) science!!
ReplyDeleteI started using Cocosoya oil years ago, because there is no pasture here - my horse gets dry forage only year-round. My understanding was that omega 3s are harder to come by in hay than grass, and it made sense to supplement for my situation. I also supplement magnesium for the same reason. A vet I know sent me a study on 10,000 hay samples from across the US - analyzed for the rdr of nutrients. Magnesium scored - at best - at 50% of the rdr.
Coincidentally or not - Val has been very laid back since I got his diet dialed in. There are situations where supplements are helpful, but it's critical to isolate what the issue is, as well as which supplement is appropriate. And by supplement I mean nutrient - not the catch-all magic bullet mixtures that Smart-pak sells. I calculated the nutrient levels for Val's feed + forage, then plugged in what was lacking to bring him up to the rdr. It requires math + research. Great post!
"And by supplement I mean nutrient - not the catch-all magic bullet mixtures that Smart-pak sells. "
DeleteSo much this. Thinking about the individual nutrients your horse needs and supplementing THOSE where deficient is what helps. SP does like to compact a million things so you get the 1 or 2 nutrients you were looking for but pay for 15 more you didn't necessarily need.
I LOVE THIS POST. The science nerd is me is geeking out right now. hahaha.
ReplyDeleteHampton likes to get a little rangy at the end of winter. And the only thing that works is alfalfa hay to help him keep weight on.
I agree, science is pretty honest! It's the way humans pick out the parts they want to share from a study to support their theory that can be untrue. I think consumers need to be smart about their horses needs, and find research on their own, not through whomever is selling to them. Applies not just to supplements, but tack, etc.
ReplyDelete