Numerous studies confirm the protective role of these cereals, now almost forgotten, barley flakes. It takes 3 grams a day, on the contrary, greater consumption is not necessary. He specified a study published some time ago in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition: "eating 3 grams of beta - daily glucan reduces the bad LDL cholesterol by 7%".
BUT WHAT IS THE BETA - GLUCAN?
Source
Beta - glucan is a polysaccharide found in foods such as oats, barley, mushrooms and yeasts and, to a lesser extent, in rye and wheat.
It can be said without a shadow of a doubt that it is a sort of cellular activator: specifically, beta glucan activates macrophages ("big eaters"), part of the group present in the blood of white cells, ie those responsible for the defense of our body. Macrophages eat bacteria, foreign cells, dead or dying cells, mutated cells and other invaders in our blood. They are, therefore "scavenger" cells that are stimulated in their own operation by beta-glucan, through a communication system that is not yet known. Most of the functions of beta-glucan on our body can be attributed to the activation of the immune system. To this are added the metabolic benefits (the cholesterol and blood glucose control), still under study.
To date, not being a drug, beta glucan is used precisely as a supplement and several dieticians, especially in patients with type 2 diabetes, tend to prescribe it as an adjuvant of pharmacological therapies based on metformin (the elite drug in the treatment of the disease). Even here, the empirical evidence is not explained: it seems to enhance the action of the drug, but we do not know how!
Furthermore, in the field of aesthetic medicine, it is added together with other products to improve the skin's aesthetic yield. However, the most accredited scientific studies confirm that beta-glycan promotes skin rejuvenation if taken by mouth (its skin absorption remains the object of study).
As already mentioned, we can summarize the advantages in this way:
• cholesterol reduction
• prevention of the risk of the onset of tumors
• increase in immune defenses
• increase in tone and skin tropism
• blood glucose control