Bromelain: Helps Injury Recovery In Horses?

Bromelain is a proteolytic enzyme contained in plant extracts derived from pineapple fruit. Proteolytic enzymes digest or break apart proteins. In fact, bromelain and other proteolytic enzymes are used in food tenderizers to soften meat. In the body, bromelain decreases fibrin by enhancing fibrinolytic action (which breaks fibrin down).

While fibrin plays a vital role in the body as a clotting agent, after an injury occurs, too much fibrin in the damaged tissues can block blood flow, resulting in poor oxygen supply, build-up of metabolic waste products, and increased swelling and inflammation. Bromelain can function to minimize fibrin build-up to injured tissues and increase recovery time from injury.

Bromelain can also aid in the digestion of proteins when taken with your horse's feed. Concerning horse injury recovery, bromelain has been shown in clinical trials to shorten recovery time from injury; reduce swelling, inflammation, and pain; accelerate tissue repair. For nutritional support as part of a total treatment for injuries, the dosage found to be effective is 1-2 grams of standardized bromelain, three times a day 30 minutes before your horse's feed time.

Always remember to use high-quality Bromelain-containing supplements that have a guaranteed potency-for example, 2,400 gelatin-digesting units- or other equivalent enzyme activity. Only use bromelain as directed and for short periods of time in high dosages, up to a few weeks at a time.