SOME HANDY TERMS
Short Chain Fatty Acids: a result of the good bacteria in your digestive tract fermenting fibre (mainly resistant starch). They fuel your digestive cells and help to keep your gut healthy.
Fibre: predominately found in grains, beans, legumes, fruits and vegetables and is made up of the indigestible parts of these foods, which pass through us relatively unchanged.
There are 3 types of fibre:
Insoluble: Draws water in to your bowels, to help soften your faeces and and support regular bowel movements. It also helps to keep us feeling full and our digestive tract healthy. Found in wholegrains and cereals, seeds, nuts, wheat bran and the skins of fruit and vegetables.
Soluble: helps to slow stomach emptying which results in you feeling fuller for longer. It also plays a role in lowering cholesterol and stabilising blood glucose levels. Found in fruit and vegetables, oats, barley and legumes
Resistant Starch: ferments in the large intestine where it assists in the production of beneficial bacteria and improves digestive health. Found in BARLEYmax, under ripe bananas, cooked and cooled potato, pasta and rice.
BACKGROUND
Colorectal cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes are major contributors to premature death and disability in developed countries such as Australia. Modern diets are increasingly refined, low in fibre and energy dense, all of which contribute to obesity and consequently, the aforementioned conditions. In Australia, the situation is a little different. The Australian diet appears quite high in fibre compared to other developed countries, however the prevalence of colorectal cancer is high. This lead CSIRO researchers to question the reasons why. The answer - poor intakes of resistant starch. They then began the search for an ingredient which could boost our intake of resistant starch, which lead them to BARLEYmax.
WHAT IS BARLEYMAX?
BARLEYmax is a non genetically modified wholegrain founded by the CSIRO. It contains twice the fibre of regular grains and 70% more beta glucan (helps control blood cholesterol levels) than oats . Click here to read more about oats and beta glucan
WHY INCLUDE BARLEYMAX IN YOUR DIET?
BARLEYmax contains more fibre (soluble, insoluble and resistant starch) than most other grains. This results in a healthy digestive system which is less prone to colorectal cancer and greater feelings of fullness, which is great if you are trying to lose weight. Including BARLEYmax in your diet is an easy way to increase your intake of resistant starch without making significant changes to your diet e.g. eating copious amounts of undercooked pasta or unripe bananas.
NUTRITION PROFILE
Fibre Profile of Popular Grains
Nutrition Information for 100g of BARLEYmax
Nutrition information for 100g of uncooked oats
The above tables compare the nutrient profiles of BARLEYmax and oats. The values are for 100g of the uncooked grains. Whilst it may appear that oats have more resistant starch than BARLEYmax- this is actually a little misleading. Cooking oats diminishes their resistant starch content. Eating uncooked oats is not really appealing! That’s why BARLEYmax is a good alternative - you can eat it uncooked for maximum nutrient uptake.
WHERE TO FIND BARLEYmax
BARLEYmax can be found in:
Barley+ products which consist of a variety of wraps, muesli/granola cereals and bars. Sold in Coles, Woolworths, IGA and other independent supermarkets
Edwards Sourdough - some of their bread varieties have added BARLEYmax. Sold in Coles and Woolworths
Alpine Breads - found in some of their bread varieties. Sold in Coles, Woolworths and some independent supermarkets.
Visit: https://www.thehealthygrain.com for all things BARLEYmax