Sulforaphane, a beneficial compound in broccoli, has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capabilities; a fact that was already known. What is truly surprising is what Ingredalia has discovered: under a certain formulation, sulforaphane is able to reduce a horse's physical recovery time after a race by more than 85%.
Thus, if a racehorse normally takes three to four weeks to regain its vigor after a race, thanks to this formulation it regains it in two to three days, stated Miguel Angel Cubero, the general director of Ingredalia, the emerging company from Navarra that has made this finding.
The product, which is produced with the broccoli by-products that are generated during the processing of this vegetable in the agri-food sector (which can account for more than a third of what is produced in the field), was designed to be used as an immunostimulant for human food. However, it caught the attention of the Ahipos company, which thought it could be of great benefit in horse racing.
“According to customers, the results they are obtaining are impressive,” Cubero stated. “The racehorse that is supplemented with this product ends up having much less oxidative and inflammatory problems, so when the competition circuit ends, it does not have to recover as much. And it is not doping because it is a natural product,” Cubero added.
Ingredalia has already begun to receive demands from other geographical areas, such as Saudi Arabia, to market the product to equestrians and stables dedicated to horse racing.
And, even though broccoli has been the first vegetable with which they have begun to work, the company aspires to develop and put on the market natural functional ingredients developed from other vegetable by-products discarded by agri-food companies, mainly in the canning and freezing sector.
According to Cubero, the company is already working with artichoke, thistle from Navarra, pepper, and tomato.
Source: efeagro.com