Each month we feature a different whole grain on the Whole Grains Council website, including information on its health benefits, cooking tips and recipes, historical/cultural facts, and more.
February’s Grain of the Month is Barley. We celebrate Valentine’s Day and Heart Health Month in February, which makes it a perfect match for barley. Barley’s effects on your love life are as yet unproven, but studies show strong support for barley’s role in protecting heart health. In fact, since 2005, the U.S. FDA has allowed barley foods to claim that they reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.
BARLEY AT A GLANCE
How important is barley to civilization? Aside from its use as food, barley is the root of the English measurement system. In 1324 Edward II of England standardized the inch as equal to “three grains of barley, dry and round, placed end to end lengthwise.” The foot, the yard, the mile, and all other English measurements followed on.
While inches and feet have given way to centimeters and meters in most of the world, barley (Hordeum Vulgare L.) is still central to the world’s food supply. In fact, it’s the world’s fourth most important cereal crop after wheat, rice, and corn.
Barley is highest in fiber of all the whole grains, with common varieties clocking in at about 17% fiber, and some, such as the variety called Prowashonupana barley (marketed by Ardent Mills as Sustagrain), having up to 30% fiber! (For comparison, brown rice contains 3.5% fiber, corn about 7%, oats 10% and wheat about 12%.) While the fiber in most grains is concentrated largely in the outer bran layer, barley’s fiber is found throughout the whole grain, which may account for its extraordinarily high levels.
But the goodness of whole grains comes from more than fiber. Whole grain barley is high in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals essential to health, too. However, much of the barley eaten in the U.S. is pearled or pearl barley, which is missing some or all of its bran layer.
As it grows in the field, most barley has an inedible hull adhering tightly to the grain kernel. The easiest, quickest way to remove this inedible hull is to scrape (pearl) it off without worrying too much about how much bran comes off at the same time. To make sure you’re enjoying true whole grain barley, look for hulled barley (barley where the inedible hull was removed carefully, keeping any bran loss to insignificant levels) or hulless barley (a different variety that grows without a tightly-attached hull).
HEALTH BENEFITS OF BARLEY
In scientific studies, barley has been shown to reduce the risk of many diseases, and to provide important health benefits. Barley offers many of the same healthy vitamins and minerals as other whole grains, but many think its special health benefits stem from the high levels of soluble beta-glucan fiber found in this grain.
According to a recent review in the journal Minerva Med, beta-glucans reduce cholesterol, help control blood sugar, and improve immune system function. New research even indicates that beta-glucans may be radioprotective: they may help our bodies stand up better to chemotherapy, radiation therapy and nuclear emergencies.
Barley, like all whole grains, reduces blood pressure.
Eating barley has been shown to lower LDL “bad” cholesterol and may help reduce the risk of heart disease.
A flood of recent research indicates that barley’s ability to control blood sugar may be exceptional, offering an important tool against rising rates of diabetes.
Barley has more protein than corn, brown rice, millet, sorghum or rye, and is higher in fiber and lower in soluble (starch) carbohydrates than almost all other whole grains.
Barley may help you feel full longer, and thereby help you control your weight.
Barley – even pearl barley – may help reduce visceral fat and waist circumference.
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