Barley News & Updates

By Amie Thompson, Great Falls Tribune

An answer to the diabetes and heart disease epidemics in America may be growing in Montana’s plains right now, and a Butte-based ag research firm is doing all it can to market it around the globe.

If Ron Ueland, president and general manager of WestBred, could go back in time, he’d make barley the dominant grain not wheat. Typically known for making beer or fattening up livestock, there are food products made from fiber-rich varieties of barley that are an even healthier alternative to oats.

"I believe that if science has the ability to find a solution, we have the responsibility to provide the solution," Ueland said.

After almost 30 years of agricultural research, WestBred brought BGLife Barley to the market, made of several waxy, hulless barley varieties that are high in soluble fiber. The varieties are based on research at Montana State University that dates back to the 1960s.

This new barley product is one of several on the market that serves as a natural way to promote healthy blood sugar and blood pressure, reduce cholesterol and help control weight, all conditions associated with diabetes and heart disease. Barley is a great source of beta-glucan, a water-soluble fiber also found in oats, but is not found in wheat, corn, rice or rye. BGLife Barley has 50 percent more beta-glucan than typical varieties of barley. The "BG" in BGLife Barley stands for beta-glucan.

A call for help

For Ueland, it was his sister-in-law, Dr. Frances Gough, who piqued his interest in finding a higher-fiber grain.

Gough, co-founder and chief medical officer of Sound Health Solutions, Obesity and Weight Management Clinic in Redmond, Wash., talked with Ueland about the uphill battles of her overweight patients. She said the progression from obesity to pre-diabetes to diabetes is a real problem and largely preventable with a change in diet and lifestyle.

"If you know anything better than oatmeal, let me know," he remembers her telling him a couple of years ago.

As it turned out, the MSU research on barley had been ongoing since the 1960s, developing barleys high in beta-glucan.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t find a good market for the grain, despite the great health benefits.

Ueland figures there are two reasons they couldn’t get a product off the ground. First, yields of high beta-glucan barley are about 10 percent less in volume than other barleys because it is hull-less. And second, there wasn’t the panic about obesity and diabetes like there is today.

Once Ueland heard the doctor’s call, WestBred researchers, who are also MSU alumni, began to develop BGLife Barley, based on the earlier MSU research.

Decades of work

Walt and Rosemary Newman, who were part of that early MSU research proving that barley lowered cholesterol, have devoted much of the past two decades trying to educate the public and food manufactures of the health benefits of barley.

"Walt and I have promoted barley for food since about 1990," Rosemary Newman said. "We visited General Mills, General Foods, ConAgra, Quaker Oats and others, showing data of the cholesterol-lowering effect and demonstrating product development."

However, they were very frustrated by the results they got. They had some success with General Mills, who introduced barley into two cereals: Basic 4 and MultiGrain Cheerios. ConAgra gave them a grant to test products for them, and the company purchased one barley variety, Prowashonupana, which has 30 percent fiber content, with 40 percent of that being soluble. ConAgra has since renamed it Sustagrain and it can be purchased through at least one company on the Web, King Arthur Flour.

"It is a poor yielding barley, so some breeders don’t like it, but it is a great food barley because of its composition," Newman said.

Newman is excited about the attention that WestBred is giving to BGLife Barley.

"It is great that WestBred is marketing it," she said.

The 2006 finalized rule by the Food and Drug Administration allowing foods containing barley to claim that they reduce the risk of coronary heart disease may also be helping barley’s appeal. A product can make the claim if it provides at least 0.75 grams of beta-glucan per serving. Waxy hulless varieties of barley supply a lot more than that. BGLife Barley Heart Balance Cereal, for example, contains 3 grams of beta-glucan fiber per serving, which is nearly 85 percent of the recommended daily whole grains.

Barley’s ambassador

Rosemary Newman has not only been involved with the science end of the products, but she has also seen how barley can help patients. Before receiving her doctorate degree in nutritional sciences and coming to MSU, Newman worked as a registered dietitian. Since she retired from MSU in 1996, she has continued to work as a dietitian and a certified diabetes educator, and as an ambassador for barley.

"Rosemary has been plugging barley for years, and she is correct. It’s just (that) you can’t go to your local grocer and get it very easily," said Ray Phillips, a diabetic in White Sulphur Springs who is in Newman’s diabetes support group. "You could go out to the grain elevator, I suppose, and get some."

Newman has worked in the White Sulphur Springs medical community for 20 years as a consultant dietitian and also as part of an American Diabetes Association-approved education program.

Beth Hunt, director of the Meagher County Senior Citizens Center in White Sulphur Springs, has also been influenced by Newman. She’s been trying for a couple of years now to add barley to the one meal a day the center serves.

"Probably a third of our people are diabetic," Hunt said. "Barley is beneficial in controlling the disease."

And thanks to companies like WestBred, barley is becoming more common to find. For example, at 2J’s Natural Foods in Great Falls, barley can be found in many multi-grain products from cereals and granola bars to crackers and waffles.

Sarah Rowley, a part-time cashier at 2J’s, is a fan of the grain.

"I use barley as a substitute for rice because it has more nutrition," she said.

A vegetarian, Rowley also likes how much protein barley products have in them. For example, one of her favorite barley products is Don Pancho Seven Grain Wraps, which have 2 grams of fiber and 8 grams of protein in one wrap.

The world’s issue

When WestBred held a press conference in April to announce the coming of BGLife barley, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer was there to address its importance to Montana.

"The BGLife Barley food products help address a worldwide epidemic that also has a big impact in our state," Schweitzer said. "This will open new markets for Montana exports."

Since the 1990s, the Japanese have been interested in Montana’s barley as an extender in rice products. Pearl barley is split to look like rice and then added to it to add fiber. Waxy hulless varieties of barley have at least three times as much fiber as rice. BGLife Barley recently signed contracts with Japanese manufacturers to also provide barley food products to be used as extenders in rice products.

Dale Clark, WestBred’s director of research, said the grain grows well in the "dry West," particularly in Montana.

"In Montana, there’s 7,000 to 10,000 acres of food barley, and that’s probably the most of any state in the nation," Clark said.

About 10,000 acres of BGLife Barley, which is made of three varieties, are growing in Montana and another 10,000 acres are in production in North Dakota and Idaho. Ueland said the company is increasing the seed rapidly, with some generations being grown off-season in Arizona.

Ueland said growers will be compensated for the difference in yield, and that WestBred knows that it will need to pay contract growers competitive prices "and then some."

"We are just opening up the potential applications in markets worldwide," said Kevin Hodges, commercial manager of the BGLife Barley project.