Re: Article - Antioxidants in physiology and nutrition of exercising horses

I would like to thank Catherine Dunnett for her excellent article.

I wish to also bring across to the readers of this forum of the potential benefits of using oregano essential oil for its antioxidant properties in the equine species.

According to Joseph Mercola, whose findings were published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry in November 2001, oregano was the herb with the highest antioxidant activity, with 3 to 20 times higher antioxidant activity than all the other herbs studied.

On a per gram fresh weight basis, oregano ranked even higher in antioxidant activity than fruits and vegetables which are known to be high in antioxidants. In comparison to the antioxidant activities of a few fruits and vegetables, oregano had 42 times more antioxidant activity than apples, 30 times more than potatoes, 12 times more than oranges and 4 times more than blueberries.

An example of an oregano essential oil product is Orego-Stim, produced by Meriden Animal Health Limited (UK). The phenolic compounds within such a product, carvacrol and thymol, are bioflavonoids that act as powerful antioxidants. These help combat free-radical damage, while protecting cells, lipids & vitamins such as A, C and E from the process of peroxidation.

An evaluation of antioxidant activities of different substances and the margin of deterioration of oxidation by UVA – VIS radiation showed that the antioxidant activity of oregano essential oil was higher than those of coriander and rosemary at various concentrations. In fact, it was even higher than ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and d-alpha tocopherol (vitamin E).

This shows that because carvacrol and thymol are more reactive, they will sacrifice themselves in the presence of a free radical in the peroxidation process, thus protecting the antioxidant vitamins and increasing their bioavailability as nutrients for the animals dietary use.

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