Green barley didn’t get pride of place among superfoods for no reason. This green plant, which you probably know better as a powder or tablet, is full of vitamins, antioxidants, fibre and protein. Hand in hand with these important nutrients go remarkable health benefits. How can green barley benefit you and is it worth taking?
In this article you will read about the effects of green barley on these specific areas:
What is green barley?
Green barley, also known as young barley or barley grass, is one of the more popular green superfoods. Wondering what it has in common with that grain that is typically used to make flour or, for example, barley? It’s practically the same crop, just at a different stage of development. We usually know barley as a mature plant with an ear and grain. Young leafy shoots are referred to as green barley. It is thus an early developmental stage of the plant before it begins to mature and grow into a tall grain with a typical ear. [2]
At this young stage, barley has the highest nutrient content. It is known virtually worldwide and is taken in a powder, tablet, juice or tea form. In Japan, for example, it is used to make a green drink called Aojiru, which can be made not only from the leaves of young barley, but also from kale or other leafy vegetables. It was first made in 1940 by a Japanese doctor who was looking for a vitamin bomb for his family during the war.
How is green barley processed?
Interestingly, young barley is a very sensitive plant. In fact, it is susceptible to oxidation, which means that exposure to air and light can quickly destroy some of its nutrients. It must therefore be processed in a special way – firstly, it is made into a juice, which is then gently spray-dried. This powder is then packed in protective packaging or made into tablets or capsules. [2]
Like young barley, wheatgrass is also popular. In addition, the well-known algae chlorella and spirulina are also among the green superfoods. Each has its own specific properties and effects.
What are the health benefits of green barley?
1. Has antioxidative effects
Every day your body fights free radicals produced by oxidative stress. The more successful it is at this, the lower the risk you have of developing various chronic health problems, such as cancer, metabolic or neurodegenerative diseases. A major role in this fight is played by built-in antioxidant systems, which are such natural protective barriers of your body. These are a combination of a number of enzymes, vitamins and various bioactive substances that work together through a myriad of metabolic processes to create an effective defence.
However, many of these important players, known as antioxidants, cannot be made by the body or are only made in limited quantities. Therefore, in order to help the body maintain the best possible defences, you should supply it through your diet. Green barley contains many of these active substances.
Which antioxidants does green barley contain?
- Enzymes such as SOD (superoxide dismutase), which are also part of the body’s natural antioxidant defences.
- Flavonoids, such as lutonarin or saponarin, which also help protect cells from free radicals.
- Chlorophyll, the colouring agent of green plants.
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin E [2]
Green barley can thus be a good companion on your journey to better health when taken regularly. In combination with a healthy lifestyle, it can help protect against health problems. It also finds a place in your diet when you are trying to age healthily and apply an anti-ageing approach.
What can you combine green barley with for maximum effect?
- Vitamins with antioxidant effects, such as vitamin C, which will also take care of your immunity.
- Zinc, which your hair and nails will greatly appreciate.
- Resveratrol, quercetin or other bioactive substances that belong to antioxidants.
- Complex supplements that combine several substances with antioxidant properties.
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2. Helps protect against cancer
Antioxidants are substances that also play a very important role in protecting the body against the development of cancer. These free radicals can damage healthy cells and promote their transformation into cancerous ones. Antioxidant substances are therefore important if you want to limit these carcinogenic processes.
Among the substances found in young barley, chlorophyll, for example, can be effective. Scientists talk about the fact that it can prevent the action of some cancer-causing factors. Furthermore, the enzyme SOD is described as such a free radical scavenger that helps to repair DNA, restore cell function and thus prevent the development of cancer. Of course, these are just two examples among many others. In order to reduce the risk of cancer as much as possible, it is essential that you pay attention to an overall healthy diet and lifestyle. [1,2,6]
What can you combine green barley with for maximum effect?
As we have already mentioned, if you want to minimise the chances of developing cancer as much as possible, you need to pay attention to a myriad of lifestyle areas. For example, your diet can provide you with substances with antioxidant properties that fight free radicals and help protect healthy cells. Beyond that, however, the recommendations for individual nutrients are very varied. In fact, the substances that reduce the risk of cancer differ for each type of tumour.
- A diet rich in calcium, for example, can reduce the risk of breast cancer.
- Dietary fibre has a preventive effect against the development of colorectal cancer (tumours of the colon and rectum). [8]
3. It is useful in controlling glycaemia
Everyone should strive to maintain healthy blood sugar (glycaemia) levels. Fluctuations in blood glucose can cause fluctuations in energy throughout the day, fatigue or repeated cravings for sweets, for example. This is true even for healthy people, whose bodies always eventually bring their blood sugar levels back to normal. However, if someone suffers from diabetes, their body cannot do it on its own. For these people, it is even more important to do everything possible to keep their glycaemia normal. This is because if it is high for a long time, it can lead to damaged blood vessels and associated health problems.
Fibre is one of those nutrients that you need in your diet when you want to control your blood sugar levels. It can slow down the absorption of carbohydrates from your food. Young barley in particular is rich in it – it contains an average of 30-40 g/100 g. This effect of dietary fibre was confirmed by a study by Japanese scientists, which showed that this green superfood helps to slow the rise in blood sugar levels after a meal. Combined with other sources of fibre, it can be a good helper in stabilising blood sugar. [2,5,6]
What can you combine green barley with for maximum effect?
- Fibre helps reduce the absorption of carbohydrates from the digestive system into the blood.
- Specifically, beta-glucans from oats or barley help to limit blood sugar spikes after eating.
- Chromium is known to be involved in maintaining normal blood glucose levels.
4. Helps with detoxification of the body
Young barley is commonly found in the diets of people who want to detoxify their bodies. This green superfood contains active substances that can help with the process of cleansing the body. For example, the aforementioned chlorophyll. According to scientists, it can bind certain toxic substances and prevent them from interfering with normal physiological processes in the body. By binding these substances, it also helps to eliminate them more easily. It turns out that, thanks to this, it can, for example, help maintain the health of the liver, which is the main organ that takes care of the body’s detoxification. [2,3]
If you want to know more about how to detoxify the body and whether this process can be supported, don’t overlook our article Detoxification and Body Cleansing: What is it Exactly and How to Support It Naturally?
What can you combine green barley with for maximum effect?
- Spirulina or chlorella can be helpful in detoxification, specifically in removing heavy metals from the body.
- Milk thistle is a plant extract that has been shown in research to have positive effects on liver health. [4]
- Complex supplements combine active substances that help take care of the liver and thus support the body’s natural detoxification.
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5. Well suited for weight loss
Green barley is also useful in your diet, especially due to its low calorie and fibre content. The basis of effective weight loss is a calorie deficit, i.e. a state in which you consume less energy than you expend over a long period of time. What helps to sustain this reduced energy intake are foods that can satiate and delay hunger. Fibre is one of the important ingredients in these foods.
Thanks to its rich content, young barley can also help to induce satiety and avoid hunger pangs. This then makes it easier to maintain a calorie deficit and lose weight effectively.
What can you combine green barley with for maximum effect?
6. Improves cardiovascular health
You can keep your heart and blood vessels in good condition by keeping your blood pressure and cholesterol levels healthy. These are parameters that are automatically checked by your GP at every preventive check-up, so you can keep an eye on them. Green barley could also help to maintain a healthy cholesterol level, which depends a lot on your diet. Studies have talked about both increasing HDL (good) cholesterol and lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol.
Thanks to its antioxidant properties, young barley may even help reduce LDL cholesterol oxidation. Oxidised cholesterol can be harmful to the blood vessel wall, so it is important to try to limit this process by using antioxidants. [2]
To achieve the best overall cardiovascular health, the key is to keep cholesterol under control. If not, atherosclerosis (hardening of the blood vessels) is a risk, which can sooner or later lead to cardiac events such as myocardial infarction. Taking young barley can therefore be a useful addition to a healthy diet and overall lifestyle in order to achieve the best possible condition of your cardiovascular system.
What can you combine green barley with for maximum effect?
- Omega-3 fatty acids are known for their positive impact on the health of the heart and blood vessels.
- Fibre can bind fat and bile acids to help lower cholesterol.
- Chitosan is also a soluble fibre. This gives it a gel-like consistency in the intestines and slows down the absorption of both fat and cholesterol from the diet. It thus helps to maintain normal cholesterol levels in the blood. [9]
What other benefits does green barley have?
- It can have a positive effect on the immune system. In particular, beta-glucan, a type of soluble fibre that has been shown to have a positive effect on immune function, plays a role in this. [7]
- Its anti-inflammatory effects are also documented in research. This may be useful, for example, in arthritis or other chronic inflammatory diseases. [2]
- It may also be useful for thyroid health, as the chlorophyll could bind endocrine disruptors. These are substances that enter the body from the external environment and disrupt the activity of the organs that make hormones. [3]
What does green barley contain?
Green barley is an unusually nutritious plant with plenty of fibre, protein, minerals, vitamins and other biologically active substances. The specific proportion of each component depends on the climatic conditions of cultivation, the harvesting method or, for example, the quality of the soil. In general, however, the nutrient content of each product is practically the same.
Protein
Young barley contains all eight essential amino acids. These are those amino acids that are important for the formation of body proteins (such as muscle proteins), but the body cannot make them on its own. Therefore, you must consume them in your diet. However, green barley does not contain them in optimal proportions, so it is only a supplement to higher quality protein sources.
Carbohydrates
Both complex carbohydrates and simple sugars can be found in green barley, but the most important component is fibre. There can be anywhere from 30-40 g of fibre in 100 g, which means that in a typical 10 g serving there is roughly 3-6 g of fibre. This is far from the recommended daily intake of 25 – 30 g, but it can still help improve your daily fibre intake, which you not only need for good digestion. The most interesting type of fibre in young barley is beta-glucan. [6]
Fat
Young barley contains healthy fats in the form of both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. However, a typical serving contains such a small amount of these nutrients that this food cannot be considered a good source of healthy fats.
Average energy and macronutrient content of green barley
CONTENT OF NUTRIENTS |
|
---|---|
Energy values | 325 kcal/1365 kJ |
Protein | 27 g |
Fat | 5 g |
Carbohydrates | 28 g |
Fibre | 30 g |
Vitamins
Green barley has no shortage of essential vitamins. It contains many B vitamins as well as fat-soluble vitamins.
- Vitamin E is an important antioxidant that helps protect against oxidative stress.
- Vitamin C is essential for immunity, nervous system function and is also involved in the formation of collagen.
- Vitamin A is involved in maintaining optimal skin and immune system health.
- Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) cares for the nervous system, as well as the condition of the skin and eyesight.
- Vitamin B3 (niacin) is important for normal mental function and a healthy nervous system. [6,9]
Minerals
It also contains a significant amount of various minerals that are involved in important physiological processes in the body.
- Magnesium is involved in optimal electrolyte balance of the body, muscle function and is also important in preventing fatigue and exhaustion.
- Iron is needed for the normal production of red blood cells and haemoglobin, as well as for proper immune function.
- Potassium is involved in the processes that lead to proper muscle function or maintenance of blood pressure.
- Zinc is necessary for normal macronutrient metabolism and for optimal fertility and reproduction.
- Copper plays an important role in normal pigmentation of the skin and hair. [6,9]
Other bioactive substances
- Beta-carotene is an antioxidant and at the same time its conversion produces vitamin A.
- Choline is involved in the metabolism of fats and cholesterol in the body.
- Enzymes
- Tryptophan is an amino acid that has been shown to have positive effects on sleep and mental well-being.
- GABA is a substance naturally contained in your brain. Its main role is to relieve tension and induce feelings of relaxation. [6]
How do you take green barley?
There is no official daily recommended dose of green barley, but research so far suggests that a serving of about 10 g appears to be effective. Therefore, for specific supplements, you will commonly come across a recommended daily amount of 10 – 15 g.
Whether you choose tablets or powder, you can take them at any time during the day. Feel free to treat yourself to young barley in the morning on an empty stomach if that suits you. But don’t expect it to have any better effects than if you take it, for example, in the evening before going to bed.
Tablets just need to be washed down with water, while you can experiment a little more with the powder.
- If it suits you, simply mix it in water and drink it. Alternatively, you can mix it with juice to improve its taste.
- It can also be added to a vegetable or fruit smoothie. For example, blend two bananas with a handful of spinach, a glass of water and one serving of green barley. In a flash, you’ll have a tasty, nutrient-packed snack.
- Add it to porridge or yoghurt.
- It is also suitable for use in pancake batter, flapjacks, muffins and other cakes. It not only adds nutrients, but also a nice green colour.
However, if you want to get the most out of green barley, you would do well to take it at an interval of 30-60 minutes from your daily meals. This will improve the absorption of its nutrients.
Can you combine green superfoods with each other?
You may have thought that it might be great to combine green barley with chlorella or spirulina, for example, to multiply their effects. Is this a good idea? Unfortunately, we can’t find any official recommendations in this case. Theoretically we can say that in some cases it could bring about some positive effects. These green superfoods, according to scientists, for example, share the ability to bind toxins and help with their excretion out of the body. So short-term use together could obviously be beneficial.
However, when combining them, it is important to remember that they all have quite high nutrient doses, often the same ones. So if you combine, for example, young barley with spirulina and a normal diet that is also nutritionally rich, you may end up with more of some vitamins or minerals than you actually need. In certain cases, such as vitamin E, there is a risk of overdose. For others, larger amounts will not do any harm, but at the same time they will not do you any good either – in short, excessive doses are unnecessary. At the same time, there is a greater chance of side effects, which in this case are mainly digestive problems.
If you’re looking for a supplement to enrich your diet with essential nutrients, it’s best to choose just one green superfood. If you’re expecting a specific health effect, choose accordingly. Their effects on the body vary a little from one to the next. However, whether you choose green barley or spirulina, take them as a supplement with a healthy diet. After all, a varied and balanced diet should still be the very foundation of a healthy diet.
Does green barley have any unwanted side effects?
There are no known serious side effects with young barley. However, digestive problems such as flatulence, abdominal pain or diarrhoea sometimes occur. An allergic reaction can also occur. Allergy sufferers, especially those with grain allergies, should be cautious when taking green barley.
For whom is green barley not suitable?
Young barley is generally a safe supplement, but there are still certain groups of people who should avoid it.
- In the case of pregnant and lactating women, as well as in children, there is not enough information available on the effects of taking this supplement. As these are quite sensitive groups of people who are at increased risk of health problems, it is not advisable to simply use this supplement blindly.
- The aforementioned allergy sufferers should be cautious when taking green barley.
- People with coeliac disease or gluten allergy should also take care and follow supplement labels. Although green barley is naturally gluten-free, it can become contaminated with gluten when processed in a factory.
- It should also be avoided by people taking blood thinners such as warfarin.
What should you remember?
Green barley, also called young barley, is a green superfood popular all over the world. It is rich in vitamins, minerals, proteins, bioactive substances with antioxidant effect and necessary fibre. Thanks to this supply of nutrients, it also has varied health benefits. When taken regularly, it can help with blood sugar control, weight loss and body detoxing. For example, just add it to a smoothie or porridge. Will you try it?
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