Digestion matters.
The way nutrients are broken down earlier in the gastrointestinal tract helps determine what remains available later.
The science
Change the environment. Change what happens within it.
Tharos studies the relationship between digestion, nutrient breakdown and the microbial environment of the gut. Our starting point is not simply which microorganisms are present, but what nutritional environment they are being given.
The Tharos approach
Anabiomics
A substrate-led approach to the microbiome.
Working with the microbial community already present
by influencing the nutritional environment around it.
One connected system
Digestion determines what the microbiome receives.
Nutrients entering the gastrointestinal tract are transformed as digestion takes place. Those processes affect the substrates that remain available further downstream — and therefore the environment encountered by microbial communities.
01
Diet
Nutrients enter the digestive system.
02
Digestion
Enzymes transform those nutrients.
03
Substrates
Different material reaches downstream communities.
04
Microbiome
The existing community responds to that environment.
The central proposition
The microbiome does not operate in isolation.
It responds to the digestive environment around it.
Substrate matters.
Microbial communities depend upon the nutrients and compounds available within their environment.
Environment matters.
Change the nutritional conditions experienced by an existing microbial community and the community can respond.
This is the scientific thinking behind Tharos.
The sections below explore the idea in more detail — beginning with why simply describing which bacteria are present tells only part of the microbiome story.
Beyond composition
Knowing who is there is not the same as knowing what the system is doing.
Microbiome analysis often begins by identifying which microorganisms are present and their relative abundance. That information can be valuable — but composition alone does not describe the entire biological system.
01
Composition
Who is there?
Sequencing and other microbiome techniques can help describe the microorganisms present within a sample and how abundant different groups appear to be.
Composition can help ask
A
Which microbial groups are detectable?
B
How does relative abundance differ between samples?
C
How does the community change over time?
02
Function
What is happening?
Microorganisms interact with the substrates available within their environment. Their activity, the compounds they use and the products of microbial metabolism add another layer to understanding the system.
Function invites different questions
A
Which substrates are available to the community?
B
How are those substrates being used?
C
What metabolic outputs are being produced?
A more complete picture
Composition describes the community.
Function helps describe its activity.
Three useful layers
From microbial identity to biological activity.
Composition
Which microorganisms are present, how diverse the community appears to be and how relative abundance differs between samples.
Substrate availability
The nutrients and compounds that reach microbial communities provide the material on which microbial activity depends.
Metabolic outputs
The compounds produced as microorganisms interact with available substrates can provide information about what is occurring within that environment.
The nutritional environment
Microorganisms cannot use what never reaches them.
The material available to microbial communities is partly determined by what happens earlier in digestion. Nutrients may be broken down, absorbed, transformed or passed further along the gastrointestinal tract.
That means the microbial environment is connected to the digestive processes occurring upstream. Change the way nutrients are processed and the substrate arriving downstream can also change.
01
Nutrient enters
02
Digestion acts
03
Substrate changes
04
Microbial environment responds
This is where Anabiomics begins
Look upstream to understand what happens downstream.
Anabiomics takes a substrate-led view of the microbiome. Rather than beginning with the assumption that a desired microbial community must be introduced, the approach asks how digestion and nutrition influence the environment experienced by the microbial community already present.
The Tharos question
What can be changed in the nutritional environment
to influence the way the existing microbiome functions?
The next step is therefore upstream.
To understand how Tharos applies this thinking, we need to look at digestion itself — particularly the role of digestive enzymes in determining how nutrients are processed before they reach microbial communities further downstream.
The digestive environment
The microbiome does not exist in isolation.
Diet, digestion and nutrient availability continually shape the environment in which microbial communities operate.
Upstream digestion
Before the microbiome can respond, digestion has already changed the material.
Food does not arrive at microbial communities unchanged. Along the way, digestive processes break nutrients down, transform them and influence what remains available further downstream. Enzyme activity is part of that upstream process.
Start upstream
Digestion comes first.
Substrate does not appear by accident.
It is partly the result of everything that has happened
to nutrients before they reach a microbial community.
The role of enzymes
Different nutrients require different biochemical tools.
Digestive enzymes are selective. Different enzymes act on different components of food, helping transform complex nutritional material into smaller molecules and altered substrates. The pattern of enzyme activity therefore contributes to determining what is processed earlier and what continues through the digestive system.
01
Feed enters the gastrointestinal tract.
02
Enzymes act on specific substrates.
03
Nutritional material is transformed.
04
The downstream environment receives what remains.
Enzymes are specific
There is no single “digestive enzyme”.
Different enzymes recognise different substrates.
Enzyme activity
Eight naturally occurring enzymes. Different nutritional targets.
Amylase
Acts on starchAmylase helps break starch molecules into smaller carbohydrate components, influencing how dietary starch is processed through the digestive system.
Fructanase
Acts on fructansFructanase acts on fructan carbohydrates found in plant material, helping alter the way these compounds are presented to the wider digestive system.
Cellulase
Acts on celluloseCellulase acts on cellulose, one of the structural carbohydrate components of plant cell walls, contributing to the wider breakdown of plant material.
Xylanase
Acts on xylansXylanase targets xylan-containing components of plant cell walls, helping modify complex plant material during the digestive process.
Beta-glucanase
Acts on beta-glucansBeta-glucanase acts on beta-glucan carbohydrates present in cereal and plant material, contributing to their enzymatic breakdown.
Phytase
Acts on phytatePhytase acts on phytate, a plant compound capable of binding phosphorus and other minerals, changing how those nutrients are associated within feed.
Protease
Acts on proteinsProteases break larger proteins into smaller peptides and amino-acid-containing fragments as part of protein digestion.
Lipase
Acts on lipidsLipase acts on dietary fats, helping break triglycerides into smaller lipid components during digestion.
One connected system
Upstream processing does not replace downstream fermentation.
Different parts of the gastrointestinal tract perform different jobs. In animals such as the horse, microbial fermentation remains fundamental to the utilisation of fibrous plant material.
The Tharos approach is therefore not about trying to move every digestive process upstream. It is about recognising that enzymatic digestion and microbial fermentation are connected stages within the same nutritional system.
Enzymatic digestion
Changes the nutritional material moving through the gut.
Microbial fermentation
Acts on substrates available within downstream communities.
The Tharos technology
Nature already produces the enzyme system.
Malted barley naturally develops a broad range of enzymes as part of the germination process. Tharos' work has focused on an enzyme-rich malt extract and a production process designed to preserve that naturally occurring enzyme activity in a practical nutritional format.
The development challenge
Not simply to identify useful enzyme activity — but to
preserve it through processing and deliver it in a
consistent finished product.
Which brings us to malt itself.
The next section looks at why malted barley is such an interesting biological starting material, how germination creates its enzyme system, and how Tharos developed a production approach intended to retain that activity.
Biology before technology
The technology begins with a biological process
that already exists in nature.
The biology of malt
The enzyme system begins inside a germinating seed.
A barley grain contains stored nutrients intended to support the growth of a new plant. When germination begins, the grain activates biological machinery capable of mobilising those reserves. That includes the development and activation of a broad natural enzyme system.
A living biological process
Barley becomes
malt.
Germination changes the grain.
Stored nutrients become biologically accessible as
enzymes help prepare them for use by the developing plant.
Why germination matters
A seed has to unlock its own nutritional reserves.
Before a young plant can photosynthesise effectively, it depends upon energy and nutrients stored inside the grain. Germination activates systems that help break complex reserves into forms that can be used during early growth. Enzymes are central to that transformation.
Biological consequence
Malted grain becomes a naturally enzyme-rich biological
material rather than simply a source of carbohydrate.
From grain to extract
Five stages connect plant biology with nutritional technology.
Barley grain
The seed contains starch, proteins, structural carbohydrates, lipids, minerals and the biological machinery required for germination.
Germination
Water and appropriate conditions initiate germination, activating metabolic pathways needed to support the developing plant.
Enzyme development
Enzyme activity helps mobilise the grain's nutritional reserves, acting on starches, proteins and components of plant cell structure.
Enzyme-rich malt
The soluble components of malt can be extracted to create a concentrated nutritional material containing naturally occurring enzyme activity.
Preservation
Processing conditions matter. The challenge is to produce a stable and practical extract while retaining meaningful biological enzyme activity.
Nature supplies the system
Tharos did not invent these enzymes.
The grain develops them naturally.
A broad biological toolkit
Germination creates more than one enzyme.
A germinating grain needs to mobilise different types of stored material. That requires multiple biochemical tools, which is why malt can contain activity from enzymes acting across different nutritional substrates.
This breadth is important to the Tharos approach. The starting material is not built around a single isolated enzyme, but around a naturally developed enzyme system within malted grain.
Amylase
Fructanase
Cellulase
Xylanase
Beta-glucanase
Phytase
Protease
Lipase
The development challenge
Finding enzymes is one thing. Keeping them active is another.
Enzymes are proteins with structures that can be affected by processing conditions. A production method that creates an attractive malt extract is therefore not automatically the same as one designed to retain enzyme activity.
Tharos' development work has focused on an enzyme-rich malt extract produced using a process designed to preserve naturally occurring digestive enzyme activity.
The question
How do you translate a biologically active germinated
grain into a consistent nutritional ingredient without
losing the property that made it interesting?
Generate activity
Germination must create the desired biological and enzymatic characteristics within the malted grain.
Retain activity
Extraction and processing conditions must be managed with biological activity in mind rather than treating the malt solely as a flavour or energy ingredient.
Make it usable
The resulting material must be sufficiently consistent, stable and practical to become part of a repeatable nutritional product.
A mechanism is only the beginning of the scientific question.
Understanding malt biology and enzyme activity provides a rationale for the technology. But a plausible mechanism is not the same as evidence of what happens when that technology is used in animals.
That is why Tharos has invested in microbiome analysis, metabolomics, veterinary research, field studies and professional trials across horses and dogs.
Next: Research & Evidence
Research beyond the laboratory
Science has to survive the complexity of the real world.
Animals live within changing diets, environments, routines and populations. Field research asks whether biological signals remain meaningful outside tightly controlled conditions.
Research & evidence
A mechanism is a hypothesis. Evidence asks whether it survives contact with data.
Tharos has investigated digestive nutrition using different populations, species, study designs and measurement techniques. No single study is treated as the entire answer. The value comes from asking related questions in different ways.
Peer-reviewed research article
2024
Journal of Modern Agriculture and Biotechnology
Waring RH · Dagi TF · Hunter JO
Evidence for the role of Anabiomics
Innovative Approaches to Managing the Mammalian Microbiome
The published study investigated enzyme-rich malt extract in both leisure horses and adult dogs. Faecal samples were collected before supplementation and again after eight weeks, then analysed using both 16S microbial analysis and SIFT/MS metabolomics.
10
Horses
10
Dogs
8 weeks
Supplementation
2 layers
Microbiome + metabolome
What changed
The researchers reported changes in short-chain fatty
acids, volatile metabolic compounds and bacterial groups
in both species following supplementation.
READ THE PEER-REVIEWED PAPER
Evidence is not one thing
Different study designs answer
different scientific questions.
Across the programme
From analytical measurements to real-world observations.
Published conference abstract
2024
Veterinary gastrointestinal field study
A retrospective study published in Equine Veterinary Education followed horses receiving EquiNectar as part of management for a range of gastrointestinal presentations, with follow-up over two months.
39
Horses
79%
Improvement recorded
49%
Presenting signs resolved
Published conclusion
The authors reported promise in horses presenting with
gastrointestinal signs and concluded that further
investigation was warranted.
Study context
READ THE PUBLISHED ABSTRACT
Retrospective design, small heterogeneous population and additional therapies in some horses mean the results should not be interpreted as proof of treatment efficacy.
Controlled metabolomics study
Equine
Spring pasture and the equine metabolome
At Redwings Horse Sanctuary, 45 horses and ponies were divided between a spring-pasture control group and a group receiving enzyme-rich malt extract alongside spring pasture. Faecal volatile compounds were measured using SIFT/MS.
45
Horses & ponies
24
Supplemented
21
Controls
What was observed
After six weeks the volatile metabolite profiles differed
between the supplemented and control groups, demonstrating
a measurable dietary effect on the downstream metabolic
environment.
Why it matters
READ THE STUDY
The study is particularly relevant to Anabiomics because it examined metabolic outputs rather than relying only on a description of bacterial composition.
Preprint · field monitoring
Equine
Faecal pH in Thoroughbred racehorses
Thoroughbred racehorses in training remained on their normal feeding programmes while faecal pH was monitored weekly before and during four weeks of supplementation.
72
Thoroughbreds
6.20
Mean starting pH
6.40
Mean pH at week four
Statistical result
Mean faecal pH increased over four weeks with
p<0.0001 reported; the proportion within the study's
stated normal pH range increased from 11% to 55%.
Study context
READ THE PREPRINT
No untreated control group was included. The authors describe faecal pH as a potential practical marker and state that comparison with microbiome and metabolome outcomes is required.
Professional observational trial
2025–26
Canine professional field programme
Two independently run phases asked UK veterinary professionals, trainers and behaviourists to track dogs during CaniNectar supplementation using repeated observational scoring.
129
Dogs
63
Professionals
2
Independent phases
Anxiety subgroup
Of 42 dogs beginning with elevated anxiety scores,
38 improved. Mean anxiety score changed from
4.29 to 3.23 out of five.
Study context
EXPLORE THE CANINE DATA
This was an observational programme, not a blinded placebo-controlled trial. Professionals knew the dogs were receiving CaniNectar, so other influences cannot be fully excluded.
Scientific transparency
Strong evidence starts by being clear about what the evidence is.
A peer-reviewed controlled experiment, a retrospective veterinary study and an observational field programme do not carry identical evidential weight. Nor should they be presented as though they do.
Each design can still contribute something useful. Analytical work can explore mechanism. Controlled comparisons can test biological responses. Field studies can show whether signals appear under real-world conditions. Those observations can then generate better questions for the next experiment.
01
Peer-reviewed publication
02
Controlled analytical research
03
Veterinary field evidence
04
Professional observation
This is a research programme, not a single study.
The wider Tharos evidence base includes additional work in horses and dogs, from microbiome and metabolomic analyses to working-dog studies, independent field programmes and emerging research questions.
From sample to signal
Measurement gives biology something to answer to.
Microbial profiles, metabolites and environmental markers allow different parts of the digestive system to be examined through complementary analytical lenses.
Measure what is appropriate to the question.
What we measure
No single measurement tells the whole biological story.
A microbiome can be examined at several levels. We can ask which microorganisms are present, what compounds are being produced, what the local environment looks like and what is being observed in the animal. Those are related questions — but they are not the same question.
Multiple biological lenses
Measure the
system.
Composition. Function. Environment. Outcome.
Different measurements reveal different parts of the
relationship between digestion and the microbiome.
Why multiple measures matter
A change in bacteria is interesting. A change in function may tell us something different.
Two microbial communities can contain many of the same organisms while operating under different nutritional conditions. Conversely, measurable changes in microbial composition do not automatically tell us what those microorganisms are doing.
Tharos therefore uses different analytical and observational approaches according to the scientific question being asked.
01
Composition
02
Metabolism
03
Environment
04
Real-world outcome
Different questions
The method should follow the question —
not the other way around.
The research toolkit
Six ways of looking at different parts of the system.
16S microbiome analysis
Which bacterial groups are detectable?16S ribosomal RNA gene analysis can be used to characterise bacterial communities and compare the relative abundance of different bacterial groups between samples or time points.
Useful for
Community composition · diversity · relative abundance
Metabolomics
Which metabolic compounds are being detected?Metabolomic analysis examines compounds produced or altered within the biological system. In Tharos research, SIFT/MS has been used to examine volatile compounds within faecal samples.
Useful for
Metabolic profile · fermentation outputs · functional change
SCFAs & volatile compounds
What is microbial activity producing?Short-chain fatty acids and other volatile compounds are among the metabolic products associated with microbial fermentation. Changes in their pattern can provide another window into microbial activity.
Examples
Acetate · propionate · butyrate · other volatile metabolites
Faecal pH
Has the faecal chemical environment changed?Faecal pH is a simple field measurement capable of showing changes in the acidity of faecal material. It can provide useful contextual information when interpreted alongside other biological measures.
Important distinction
Faecal pH is not a direct measurement of pH elsewhere in the gut.
Veterinary & observable outcomes
What is changing in the animal?Depending upon study design, researchers and professionals may record observable characteristics such as stool or faecal consistency, condition, appetite and other predefined practical outcomes.
Useful for
Translating analytical findings into real-world context
Behaviour
Are consistent behavioural changes being observed?Some Tharos programmes have also used structured professional or owner observation to explore behaviour, including measures such as anxiety, reactivity, focus and ability to settle.
Important distinction
Behavioural scoring is observational, not a direct biochemical measure.
Connecting the layers
The useful question is often how the measurements relate.
One result can become much more informative when considered alongside another. A microbiome profile can indicate which bacterial groups have changed, while metabolomics can examine whether the metabolic environment has changed at the same time.
A simple field measure such as faecal pH can add further context, while structured observations help ask whether any analytical signal is accompanied by something meaningful in the animal.
The aim is not necessarily to make every measure move. It is to build a more complete biological picture.
01
Who is there?
02
What are they producing?
03
What environment exists?
04
What is being observed?
Study design matters
We do not run every test in every study.
Different research programmes are designed to answer different questions. A metabolomics experiment may require detailed analytical sampling. A large professional field programme may instead prioritise repeatable observational measures across a much larger population.
The important point is to describe clearly what was measured, how it was measured and what conclusions that study design can reasonably support.
The principle
Measure what is appropriate to the question — then interpret
the result within the limitations of that method.
Beyond the laboratory
Biological relevance eventually has to meet the real world.
Laboratory measurements can reveal mechanisms and biological signals. Field research helps ask whether those signals remain interesting when animals are living, feeding, training and behaving under everyday conditions.
Laboratory
Analytical precision
Microbial and metabolic analysis can investigate the underlying biological system in detail.
Field research
Biological context
Studies in yards, kennels, practices and homes explore responses under practical conditions.
Professional observation
Practical relevance
Veterinarians, trainers and other professionals can help identify whether consistent observable patterns emerge.
Measurement turns a biological idea into a testable question.
Tharos uses these tools to understand mechanism, test hypotheses and guide the next stage of product development. The purpose of the science is ultimately to build better nutritional products — not simply to generate more data.
From research to products
Science becomes useful when it can become something animals can actually use.
Tharos exists to translate scientific ideas into practical nutritional technologies. That means moving beyond mechanism and measurement into formulation, manufacturing and species-specific product development. The finished product is the final stage of a much longer scientific process.
01
Question
Identify the biological problem
Begin with a meaningful question about digestion, nutrition or the microbial environment.
02
Research
Test the mechanism
Use analytical, controlled and field research to explore whether the biological idea is supported by data.
03
Development
Build for the species
Formulation and practical use have to reflect the animal, its digestive physiology and how the product will be fed.
04
Translation
Make the science usable
Manufacture a repeatable nutritional product capable of being used consistently outside the research environment.
Equine translation
EquiNectar
EquiNectar grew from the original equine research programme and became the first major commercial expression of Tharos' enzyme-rich malt technology. It is designed as daily nutritional support within the context of equine digestion.
Scientific lineage
Equine digestion → enzyme activity → downstream
nutritional environment → practical daily product
Canine translation
CaniNectar
CaniNectar extended the scientific programme into dogs. The product applies enzyme-rich malt technology within a formulation and feeding approach developed specifically for canine nutrition, digestive physiology and practical use.
Scientific lineage
Canine digestion → microbiome research → species-specific
development → practical daily product
Translation is not duplication
The science can travel. The product still has to fit the species.
Horses and dogs have different gastrointestinal anatomy, feeding behaviour, diets and nutritional requirements. A scientific principle that is relevant across mammals therefore does not imply that the same finished formulation should simply be copied from one species to another.
Species-specific development means considering both the biology and the practical reality of use.
01
Different digestive physiology
02
Different diets and feeding patterns
03
Different practical product requirements
Product-development philosophy
The technology does not decide the product in advance.
Tharos does not start every development programme by asking how an existing ingredient can be placed into another product. The starting point should remain the biological question.
That is why the wider Tharos portfolio can include different nutritional technologies for different digestive roles. Different questions may require different tools.
The development rule
Start with the biology. Build the evidence. Then choose
the most appropriate nutritional solution.
And product launch is not the end of the research.
Commercial use creates new observations, new populations and new questions. Those questions can lead back into laboratory work, field studies and collaborations — continuing the cycle between science and product development.
The research continues
Every answer creates another question.
Tharos began with a question about digestion and the microbial environment. The research that followed has answered some questions and created many more. That is exactly what a useful scientific programme should do.
Science does not end at product launch
Research. Learn. Develop. Question again.
A commercial product is not the end point of scientific enquiry. Use in different animals, diets, environments and populations creates new observations that can be investigated more formally.
Those observations can generate new hypotheses, new analytical work and new study designs. The relationship between science and product development is therefore a cycle rather than a straight line.
01
Begin
Ask the question
Identify a biological or nutritional problem worth understanding.
02
Investigate
Build the evidence
Choose methods capable of testing the question rather than simply confirming an assumption.
03
Translate
Develop the product
Turn useful scientific findings into a practical nutritional technology.
04
Observe
Learn from use
Different animals and environments create new data, observations and unexpected questions.
05
Continue
Ask the next question
New observations become the starting point for further research.
Where the questions lead
01
02
03
The next studies should go where the biology takes us.
The Tharos research programme continues to be shaped by the relationships between nutrition, digestive physiology, microbial communities and observable outcomes.
Digestion & substrates
Further understanding how upstream nutrient processing changes what becomes available further downstream.
Microbiome & metabolome
Looking beyond microbial composition to investigate metabolic outputs and functional responses.
Real-world relevance
Connecting analytical findings with practical outcomes observed in animals under everyday conditions.
Research is collaborative
The next useful question may come from outside Tharos.
Scientific progress depends upon combining expertise, facilities, populations and perspectives. Tharos works with researchers, veterinary professionals and other organisations where collaboration can help answer a worthwhile question.
We are interested in research that helps explain mechanism, tests biological responses or improves our understanding of how nutritional technologies perform under real-world conditions.
01
Universities & researchers
02
Veterinary & animal-health professionals
03
Research & development partners
Continue exploring
Science moves forward when good questions meet good collaborators.
Explore the wider equine and canine research programmes, meet the people behind Tharos, or contact us to discuss a potential research or development collaboration.
Better questions. Better science. Better products.