Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) therapies like Ayurveda advocates the use of low GI grains such as barley, quinoa and buckwheat for natural weight loss.
Now researchers from the Food for Health Science Centre at Lund University in Sweden have shown that barley is beneficial in improving metabolism for up to 14-hours. The researchers carried out the study on 20 healthy, middle-aged participants. The ‘treatment group’ ate barley kernel bread at breakfast, lunch and dinner for 3 days whilst the control group ate white wheat bread during the same 3-day period.
The study concluded that the participants who ate the barley kernel bread had:
- improved metabolisms for up to 14 hours
- decreased blood sugar levels
- decreased insulin levels
- improved appetite control
- increases in insulin sensitivity
Barley is known to increase GI hormones that regulate metabolism and appetite. Even though the trial size was low, this important finding validates the use of barley kernels for weight management and further provides a good integrative healthcare solution for treating not only obesity, but also cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
