11/22/2018 / By Ellaine Castillo
By 2035, it is estimated that over 592 million people worldwide will have diabetes. This is a major cause for concern, which is why it has become even more important to find potential treatments for the condition. One plant that has shown antidiabetic potential is barley (Hordeum vulgare). The finding, which was published in the Journal of Ayurveda and Holistic Medicine, was based on in vitro observations of barley’s ability to reduce blood sugar levels.
Diabetes is a metabolic disorder characterized by elevated blood sugar levels. It is caused by either insufficient insulin production or reduced sensitivity to insulin action. Although it isn’t curable, there are treatments, such as hypoglycemic substances, that manage diabetes by maintaining healthy blood sugar levels. Many hypoglycemic substances work by inhibiting the activity of alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase, which are enzymes that release glucose from dietary carbohydrates, such as starch. This effectively delays the absorption of dietary carbohydrates in the intestines and lowers blood sugar levels.
Many plants are utilized as natural diabetes treatments due to their hypoglycemic activity. This is especially helpful since crops with antidiabetic potential can easily be incorporated into a person’s diet. Barley is a cereal grain that is widely consumed worldwide because of its high nutritional content and its many health benefits, which potentially includes antidiabetic activity.
In this study, flour milled from barley was evaluated based on its ability to inhibit alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase activities in vitro. This was expressed as IC50, which is the concentration needed to inhibit 50 percent of enzymatic activity. In addition to this, the researchers determined whether churning would have an effect on enzyme inhibition activity using the following setups: 1) no churning, 2) churning for 20 minutes, 3) churning for 30 minutes. Results showed that barley effectively inhibits alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase activities. It was also observed that churning led to better inhibitory activity, possibly due to the destruction of starch. However, churning should only be done moderately, as shown by better inhibition activity of barley churned for 20 minutes compared to 30 minutes.
The results of the study show that barley can inhibit alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase activity, effectively lowering blood sugar levels. This means that barley can be used as a natural treatment for diabetes, making it easier to avoid synthetic diabetes drugs that have harmful side effects. (Related: Byetta diabetes drug linked to patient deaths; real diabetes cures ignored.)
Aside from its antidiabetic potential, eating barley is associated with many other health benefits associated with eating barley, such as:
Learn more about the antidiabetic potential of barley by visiting DiabetesCure.news today.
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