NEW research, conducted in collaboration with Spillers, has shown that the equine diet, and more specifically, starch-rich food, can influence adrenocorticotropin hormone or ‘ACTH’. This could potentially lead to an incorrect disease diagnosis in some horses when ACTH is used to test for Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID), also known as Equine Cushing’s Disease.

The threshold values for diagnosis of the disease currently vary dependent on the season, but these new findings suggest that diet should also be considered.