GUELPH, Ont. – Government-certified health claims for the cholesterol- lowering capabilities of oats and barley may be coming to Canada.
The timing depends on Health Canada and researchers Susan Tosh and her associates at Agriculture Canada’s Guelph Food Research Centre.
“Health Canada is very cautious,” Tosh said. “They want to make sure that products with health claims can really deliver the healthy benefits people expect. Although there’s evidence that oats and barley products lower LDL cholesterol, there are still questions about whether food processing affects the dose required.”
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Cholesterol-linked health claims are being made in the United States and Europe, but Tosh said Canada’s cautious approach has merit.
Researchers have found that betaglucan’s health benefits are compromised when yeast is used as a leavening agent in bread. Beta-glucan is the bioactive component of oats and barley linked to cholesterol reduction.
Some studies that have led to health claims for beta-glucan rely on animal trial data, but Tosh said animal studies provide only preliminary and supporting data.
Scientists have yet to understand how beta-glucan reduces cholesterol and why some forms work better than others.
“In order to be able to produce foods which give the best health benefits, we need to know how they provide those benefits.”
Tosh said there are three possibilities:
• Beta-glucan is a soluble fibre that increases viscosity in the gut and acts like a sponge so the body doesn’t absorb cholesterol in food.
• Cholesterol stores in the body are used through a process involving beta-glucan. The viscous betaglucan solution carries bile acids needed for digestion out of body. The acids are then replaced by breaking down cholesterol.
• Beta-glucan passes through to the large intestine where it is fermented to produce short-chain fatty acids. This sends a message to the liver telling it not to produce the human form of cholesterol.
She said it is also possible all three mechanisms may be happening at once.
She will now work with a second study to be conducted at the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals in Winnipeg.
Thirty volunteers will receive a daily ration of high-viscosity or low-viscosity beta-glucan from barley.
The study will monitor blood-serum cholesterol levels, the amount of human cholesterol produced by the body during the trial, how much was absorbed from the food and how much was excreted.
