Barley - Benefits, Medicinal and Health Uses of Barley

Barley Grass

Barley was one of the first cereal crops to be domesticated.   Archaeologists have found evidence in the Middle East that it was a staple food as long ago as 5,000 BC or earlier. There are more than 50 different varieties of barley grown in Western Canada. Different types are best for different uses. 

The beaded barley is employed for the preparation of a decoction which is a nutritive and lenitive drink in feverish conditions and in affections catarrhales of the respiratory and urinary bodies: the barley water is employed to dilute the milk of the cows for young infants, it prevents the formation of the hard masses of the curdled milk in the stomach. The malt is produced starting from the barley by a process of steeping and to dry which develops a leaven “diatase” necessary for the production of malt alcoholics alcoholic drinks, but in the form of malt extract they are mainly employed in medicine. The vinegar is an acid liquid produced by oxidation of the fermented malt must. The malt vinegar is the only vinegar which should be employed medicinal.

Barley health uses and benefits

• Lowers blood cholesterol
• Cool barley water is used in drinks for fevers and to soothe and heal stomach or digestive upsets, irritable bowels, dry coughs, diarrhea, cystits, or irritable bladders.
• May inhibit cancer
• When given to babies, it helps with the digestion of milk, preventing the development of curds within the stomach.
• Improves bowel function
• Barley grass, a popular ingredient in juice supplements, is rich in cholorophyll and antioxidants. German researchers have also found that sprouted barley seed contains alkaloids that may have some therapeutic value
• Barley contains beta glucan, a type of fiber that may help lower blood cholesterol and regulate blood sugar.
• Trials undertaken in the 1990s, suggest that barley may be helpful in controlling blood-sugar levels in diabetics.

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), Germinated Barley Foodstuff (GBF)

Barley is a cereal used as a staple food in many countries. It is commonly used as an ingredient in baked products and soup in Europe and the United States. Barley malt is used to make beer, and as a natural sweetener called malt sugar or barley jelly sugar.

Recent data suggest that barley may be promising in reducing total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in mildly hyperlipidemic patients. Barley has a high fiber content; a modest inverse association has been observed between dietary fiber intake and cardiovascular disease in a recent large prospective cohort study, although results were not statistically significant.