Foods Made From BARLEYMAX Improve Markers of Bowel Health In Human Subjects

Wholegrain Foods Made From A Novel High-Amylose Barley Variety (Himalaya 292) Improve Indices of Bowel Health in Human Subjects.

By Anthony R Bird, Michelle S Vuaran, Roger A King, Manny Noakes, Jennifer Keogh, Matthew K Morell, David L Topping

This randomized cross-over trial evaluated how foods made from a novel high-amylose barley variety (Himalaya 292) – a type of barley with elevated dietary fibre and resistant starch – affect bowel-health markers in human adults compared with whole-wheat and refined cereal foods. Seventeen men and women (aged 31–66) consumed each diet for 4 weeks, supplying roughly 45 g fibre/day on the Himalayan-barley diet, 32 g on the whole-wheat diet, and 21 g on the refined cereal diet.

Compared with the refined cereal period, the Himalaya 292 diet produced a 33% increase in faecal weight, a lowering of faecal pH (from ~7.24 to ~6.98), a 91% increase in faecal butyrate excretion, a 57% increase in total faecal short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) excretion, and a 33% reduction in faecal p-cresol concentration (a putrefactive metabolite). These changes are interpreted as improved bowel-health indices: greater stool bulk and increased production of beneficial SCFAs (like butyrate), supporting colonic health and favourable gut environment compared with refined cereal or even whole-wheat diets.

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