Barley
Scientific Name(s): Hordeum vulgare L.
Common Name(s): Barley, Hordeum, Prowashonupana
Medically reviewed by Drugs.com. Last updated on Oct 4, 2021.
Clinical Overview
Use
Barley is a food staple and is also brewed into beer, fermented to make miso, and processed to yield malt sugar. Meta-analyses indicate that barley, similar to oats, reduces cholesterol and improves glucose metabolism. Beneficial effects on intestinal microflora also appear to improve immunological responses, especially the pro-inflammatory mediators.
Dosing
The recommended intake of barley beta-glucan for cholesterol-lowering action is 3 g/day.
Contraindications
Patients with celiac disease should avoid consumption of barley products.
Pregnancy/Lactation
Information regarding safety and efficacy in pregnancy and lactation is lacking.
Interactions
None well documented.
Adverse Reactions
Hypersensitivity reactions may occur in sensitive individuals.
Toxicology
There is little or no information.
Scientific Family
- Poaceae
Botany
Barley is an annual grass grown in winter or spring. The winter annual is planted in the fall because it requires a period of exposure to cold in order to produce flowers and set seeds. It forms a rosette type of sprout in fall and winter, developing elongated stems and flower heads in early summer. Spring varieties do not have a typical rosette stage and are grown in areas with very cold winters. The stems are round and hollow between the nodes, and vary in length from 30 to 122 cm. The flowers and, later, the mature seeds are borne on spikes attached to the central stem. Depending on the variety and climatic conditions, the period from flowering until harvest lasts 40 to 55 days.PLANTS 2009, Purdue 2009
History
Barley is one of the first domesticated grains; the use of barley for food and medicinal purposes dates to antiquity. The ancient Greeks used the mucilage derived from the cereal (known as ptisane) to treat gastrointestinal (GI) inflammation. Gladiators ate barley for strength and stamina, and the Roman physician Gaius Plinius Secundus (known as Pliny the Elder, AD 23-79) used barley as part of a ritualized cure for boils. Barley is the fourth most important grain crop in the United States, and is used mainly as livestock feed. Although supplanted by wheat and rye in baking, barley is used extensively in soups, cereals, animal feed, and beer production. Protein extracted from the leaves is believed to be an adequate food supplement. Roasted seeds are used in making coffee, and fermented seeds are made into miso. Whole barley is used for animal feed and malting. For human consumption, the barley hull is removed by abrasion, producing pearl barley.Facciola 1990, Reader's Digest 1986, Schauenberg 1990
Chemistry
Barley contains about 3% to 11% dietary fiber made up of pentosans, beta-glucan, and cellulose. Beta-glucan is a highly viscous soluble polysaccharide, with a linear, unbranched structure composed of 4-O-linked beta-D-glucopyranosyl units and 3-O-linked beta-D-glucopyranosyl units; the molecular weight ranges from 0.4 to 2.3 × 106 Da. Beta-glucan is associated with the plant cell wall and is distributed throughout the kernel, with a slightly higher concentration in the outer portion.Würsch 1997, Keagy 2001
The major nutrient in barley is starch, with smaller amounts of protein and fats also present.NutritionData 2009 About half of the tot...
