LIVE LONGER – Lower cholesterol levels through healthy foods.

As increasing attention is being focused on diet related illnesses, both the food industries and the consumers' interest in functional foods - foodstuffs with documented health enhancing properties - has grown apace. Greater knowledge about what substances in our foods can have specific health promoting qualities provides the possibility of avoiding poor health through proper diet, rather than using various kinds of medicines, for example.

In recent years, particular consideration has been devoted to products based on cereals. A great variety of such products have been marketed successfully with claims for health enhancement all around the world. One substance that has attracted particular notice is the Beta Glucane that appears in many of our commonest cereals, like oats and barley. But what exactly are Beta Glucanes and what effect do they have on the human organism?

Beta Glucane is a water-soluble fiber, a polysaccharide that repeated clinical studies have shown to be able to significantly reduce the LDL cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol) content in the blood. At the same time, Beta Glucane helps to stabilize the HDL cholesterol (the "good" cholesterol) content and thus contribute to a balance that can radically reduce the risk of heart and vascular diseases and the need for cholesterol reducing drugs. We do not know exactly how Beta Glucanes work, but one theory scientists are exploring is that they have the ability to bind cholesterol and bile acids when they pass through the intestinal system.

New research indicates that Beta Glucanes also have a number of other specific health effects in addition to being able to lower the blood cholesterol level. Among these are anti-inflammatory properties and boosting the immune response. There is also research indicating that Beta Glucanes may have a so-called prebiotic effect, i.e. stimulate the growth of helpful bacteria that can protect against pathogenes in the intestinal track.

Nutritech International markets Activated Barley™, a product that gains a very high Beta Glucane content through a natural process - an up to 94 percent raise of Beta Glucane content has been scientifically proven. Even in its natural state, barley has very good nutritional makeup - it is, for example, the only cereal that contains all of the E (antioxidant) vitamins. Among other things, the activating process has made a greater portion of barley's nutritive content available to the human organism. Because Activated Barley is made from the whole barley grain, it is also likely that it has a preventive effect on different kinds of cancer diseases, e.g. colon cancer, according to research results based on a newly published epidemiologic study of 500,000 Europeans (the EPIC study, published in the Lancet spring 2003). Also, so called health claims concerning the whole grain’s ability to protect against heart and vascular disease, have been accepted by both European and U.S. authorities.

Activated Barley has a very high molecular weight, which not only gives the product itself a very low glycaemic index (GI) - i.e. a slow increase of the blood sugar level over time and a lasting feeling of satisfaction, it also makes the product ideal as an ingredient in foods when it is advantageous for various reasons to regulate GI at a desired level. With Activated Barley, the food industry has access to a tool that will add new and healthy properties to a wide range of foodstuffs.

Already started in this direction comes EssentialFood™ a product manufactured by G&G Food Supplies Ltd known for its quality, purity, innovation and service since 1965. This product contains the Activated Barley and in addition a high nutritional content through the added ingredients; Flaxseed, Quinoa, Turmeric, Organic Fruits and Vegetables, Ginkgo Biloba, Kelp and Spirulina and also Barley Grass. This product recently celebrated its status of being the first Organic Superfood to include the new Activated Barley. EssentialFood is available to retailers and consumers at www.essentialfood.co.uk or call the hotline 01342 337 536.