As per recent reports, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has officially declared that barley is the new health cereal, in response to the cholesterol lowering claims made by the barley manufacturers. What is notable is that the declaration has given scope to the barley manufacturers to incorporate this grain in a range of health foods that would target those consumers who suffer from heart related problems. As per Mary Sullivan, executive director of the National Barley Foods Council:
Unfortunately, there just aren’t a lot of (barley-based) products that are available now. Allowing the health claim ‘will definitely help’.
To push one of the major claims, made by Cargill, the Minnetonka-based agribusiness giant is about the concentrated form of barley beta-glucan, reported to improve cardiovascular performance. Though Cargill has already filed its petition with FDA for its ‘Barliv’, yet it is continuing with research to confirm its claims. The barley manufacturers have won half of the battle with the declaration and the rest-half lies with the benefit it does to the consumers with its ‘cholesterol-lowering’ claims.
