Barley was one of the first crops people farmed. It was domesticated about 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent from a wild grass, and it became a founder crop of early agriculture. Grains from a cave in the Judean Desert that are 6,000 years old still resemble the barley landraces grown in the region today.
Like oats, barley is rich in beta-glucan, a soluble fiber that thickens into a gel in the gut. It is the reason barley is one of the few foods with an official heart-health claim. Dry hulled barley has 17.3 g of fiber per 100 g, which ranks fourth of 109 foods on this site, and the ¼ cup (46 g) used for the numbers on this page has 8 g.
Barley also has a trick that most grains lack. In small Swedish trials, a barley dinner improved how the body handled blood sugar at breakfast the next morning, an effect the researchers link to gut bacteria fermenting barley fiber overnight. Not every barley product works, though: in a 1996 trial, ordinary whole-meal barley porridge did not lower blood sugar, while one made from a high-fiber barley type did.
Barley is not one grain product but several. This page’s nutrition facts are for hulled barley, dry, which keeps its bran. Pearl barley has some or all of the bran polished off, and the studies below used hulled, pearl and flaked barley, flour, bread and extracted beta-glucan.
Health benefits of barley
The top findings from 26 studies, strongest evidence first
What the stars mean
- Strong. Several randomized trials, pooled in a meta-analysis, point the same way, or regulators (FDA or EFSA) have approved the claim.
- Moderate. Good randomized trials support it, but there are fewer of them, or their results vary.
- Limited. Small, short or single trials, or mixed results. Promising, but it needs confirmation.
Population and lab studies get no stars: they show a link or a mechanism, not proof.
How we rate evidence →- ★★★Lower “bad” LDL cholesterolBarley beta-glucan, a fiber, lowered LDL by about 0.25 mmol/L, or 10 mg/dL, in 14 trials (a median of 6.5 g a day). Another review found triglycerides fell too, but not HDL.
- ★★Smaller blood sugar rise after mealsBarley lowered the blood sugar rise after a meal by about 10 to 12 mg/dL in the first hour. Long-term, fasting glucose and HbA1c did not change.
- ★★Mixed results on visceral fatIn 44 Japanese men with high cholesterol, 12 weeks of rice with pearl barley left less visceral fat (fat around the organs) than rice alone. In another trial of 100 adults, visceral fat fell 10.7 cm² on high beta-glucan barley, not significantly more than on beta-glucan-free barley (6.8 cm²).
- ★★Fuller after a barley meal, in one trialIn 67 healthy adults, a single dose of a fiber-rich barley lowered hunger and raised fullness compared with rice flour. Long-term effects were not tested.
- Population studyWhole grains linked to lower risk of deathPeople who ate 90 g more whole grains a day (about three servings) had a lower risk of death from any cause (relative risk 0.83). This covers whole grains in general, not barley alone.
All 26 studies, strongest evidence first
Barley and barley beta-glucan lowered LDL cholesterol by 0.27 mmol/L compared with control diets
Meta-analysis of 11 randomized trials published from 1989 to 2008. Total cholesterol fell 0.30 mmol/L. The effect did not rise with the dose, and it did not differ significantly by type of intervention or food form.
A median of 6.5 g a day of barley beta-glucan for 4 weeks lowered LDL cholesterol by 0.25 mmol/L (about 10 mg/dL)
Meta-analysis of 14 randomized trials with 615 people, each lasting at least 3 weeks. Non-HDL cholesterol fell 0.31 mmol/L, but apolipoprotein B did not change, and the non-HDL results varied widely between trials.
Barley lowered LDL cholesterol by about 10 mg/dL and triglycerides by about 12 mg/dL in trials, but not HDL cholesterol
Meta-analysis of 8 randomized trials (391 people) lasting 4 to 12 weeks. Total cholesterol fell about 13 mg/dL, and HDL cholesterol did not change significantly.
Barley lowered the blood sugar rise after a meal by about 10 to 12 mg/dL in the first hour, but did not change HbA1c
Meta-analysis of 31 controlled trials (660 people on barley, 665 controls). The drop faded by 180 minutes, and long-term barley intake did not significantly change fasting glucose or HbA1c. The authors call for more high-quality trials.
Drinks with 5 or 10 g of barley beta-glucan a day did not significantly change cholesterol, while 5 g of oat beta-glucan did
Single-blind trial in 100 people with high cholesterol (89 finished) who drank beta-glucan beverages for 5 weeks after a 3-week run-in. Oat beta-glucan (5 g) lowered total cholesterol by 7.4%; no significant effects of the barley drinks were found, including on blood sugar after a meal.
Rice mixed with high beta-glucan barley for 12 weeks reduced visceral fat by 10.7 cm², not significantly more than beta-glucan-free barley (6.8 cm²)
Double-blind trial in 100 Japanese adults with a large waist and a BMI of 24 or more; the barley group ate 4.4 g of beta-glucan a day. Body weight and BMI fell more with beta-glucan barley, but visceral fat fell more than with placebo only in people with 100 cm² or more.
A glutinous, beta-glucan-rich barley delayed the rise in blood sugar and lowered insulin after a meal, compared with rice flour
Double-blind crossover trial in 67 healthy adults, using one barley variety (Saechalssalbori) in a single dose. Barley also lowered hunger and raised fullness, with higher ghrelin and PYY, and slightly raised glucagon and triglycerides. Long-term effects were not tested.
Rice mixed with pearl barley for 12 weeks lowered LDL cholesterol and visceral fat in Japanese men with high cholesterol
Double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 44 men with a BMI above 22. The barley group ate pearl barley high in beta-glucan (7.0 g of beta-glucan a day). Their LDL and total cholesterol fell, and visceral fat, BMI and waist size were lower than in the rice-only group at the end. The first author works at Sapporo Breweries.
A barley beta-glucan drink at 3 g a day for 12 weeks lowered the blood sugar rise after a glucose drink, and 6 g lowered fasting insulin
Placebo-controlled trial in 50 adults without diabetes (44 finished) with a BMI of 32, drinking a reduced-viscosity barley beta-glucan extract. Body weight stayed stable. The trial was funded by Cargill, which makes the extract.
Barley kernel bread eaten in the evening improved blood sugar control at breakfast the next morning in healthy adults
Study in 15 healthy people comparing evening bread meals with 50 g of available starch. After the barley kernel bread, the inflammation marker interleukin-6 was lower and adiponectin higher than after white wheat bread. The authors link this to gut bacteria fermenting the barley fiber overnight.
Boiled barley kernels as a late evening meal reduced energy intake at lunch the next day and lowered the blood sugar rise
Crossover trial in 19 young adults comparing boiled barley kernels with white wheat bread. The barley meal raised the gut hormone GLP-1, lowered fasting free fatty acids and reduced hunger 10.5 to 16 hours later.
Three days of barley kernel bread lowered the blood sugar response to breakfast by 22% in healthy middle-aged adults
Randomized crossover trial in 20 people. After barley bread, the insulin response was 17% lower, the insulin sensitivity index 25% better and fasting GLP-1 56% higher than after white wheat bread. It was small and short.
Porridge from common whole-meal barley did not lower blood sugar compared with white wheat bread, but products from a high-fiber barley did
Study in 9 healthy people. Products from a barley type with extra beta-glucan had glycemic indices of 57 to 72% and insulin indices of 42 to 72% of the white wheat bread reference. Common barley and oat porridges did not differ from the bread.
Meals made with a high-fiber barley flour gave a blood sugar response about 22% lower than white wheat flour meals, but did not reduce later eating
Randomized crossover study in 14 healthy women. Insulin response to the wheat meals was 32% higher, yet food intake over the next 10 hours was 23% lower after wheat than after barley, so the barley meals did not curb appetite.
Barley bread lowered the blood sugar rise by 23.7% compared with white bread, about the same as whole-wheat bread
Randomized crossover trial in 20 healthy adults who ate white, whole-wheat, barley or oat bread at breakfast. The drop was 29.9% for oat bread and 27.9% for whole wheat, with no differences among them. Barley bread also lowered appetite ratings by 21.5% against white and 23.9% against whole-wheat bread, but later food intake was similar.
Soups with about 3 g of barley beta-glucan did not change hunger or lunch intake, whether the molecules were large or small
Randomized crossover trial in 23 healthy men who ate soups with high or low molecular weight barley beta-glucan, or a control soup, after breakfast. Fullness, desire to eat and food intake at an ad libitum lunch and over the rest of the day did not differ.
A beta-glucan-enriched barley did not significantly lower LDL cholesterol in men with mildly high cholesterol
Single-blind crossover trial in 18 men, with all food provided and 8.1 to 11.9 g of beta-glucan a day. LDL was 0.15 mmol/L (3.8%) lower between treatments, which was not significant, and the response varied a lot between men.
3.3 g a day of barley beta-glucan for 3 weeks did not change cholesterol compared with control in young healthy adults
Randomized crossover trial in 14 people given control, oat or two barley beta-glucans of similar molecular mass in a drink and yogurt. Oat beta-glucan lowered LDL by 0.23 mmol/L compared with baseline, but no treatment beat control. Stool weight and frequency did not change.
3 g a day of high molecular weight barley beta-glucan lowered total cholesterol by 0.12 mmol/L, but low molecular weight beta-glucan did not
Randomized crossover trial in 30 adults with mildly high cholesterol, 5 weeks per phase. The response to 3 g of the large-molecule form was bigger in people who carry a G allele of a bile acid gene, CYP7A1 (rs3808607).
Four servings a day of whole grain barley for 6 weeks lowered LDL cholesterol by 8.9 mg/dL, a trend that fell short of statistical significance
Double-blind feeding trial in 68 adults comparing a control diet with oat and barley diets (4 servings per 2,000 kcal). The barley diet lowered diastolic blood pressure and a vascular inflammation marker. Funded by the Kellogg Company, which says it had no role in the design, analysis or decision to publish.
60 g a day of whole-grain barley for 4 weeks enriched gut bacteria such as Roseburia, Bifidobacterium and Dialister
Randomized crossover trial in 28 healthy adults eating whole-grain barley, brown rice or a mix of the two. All treatments raised microbial diversity, and the barley and rice mix lowered interleukin-6 and the peak blood sugar after meals most.
Oats and barley lowered inflammation markers in 5 of 9 trials that measured them, but not in healthy people
Systematic review of 16 randomized trials (1,091 people) of oats or barley, which the results do not separate. Reductions appeared in long-term trials in people at metabolic risk. Thirteen trials looked at gut bacteria, and the authors urge caution because of few trials and varied designs.
Each extra 90 g a day of whole grains was linked to a lower risk of death from any cause (relative risk 0.83)
Meta-analysis of 45 prospective studies of whole grains in general, not barley alone; 90 g is about three servings. Relative risks were 0.81 for coronary heart disease and 0.78 for cardiovascular disease. Cohorts show a link, not cause.
People who ate the most fiber had 15 to 30% lower rates of death, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer than those who ate the least
Series of meta-analyses of 185 prospective studies and 58 trials (4635 adults) on dietary fiber and whole grains in general, not barley alone. Risk reduction was greatest at 25 to 29 g of fiber a day, and certainty was moderate for fiber and low to moderate for whole grains.
Mice on a high-fat diet fed beta-glucan-rich barley flour had lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels and different gut bile acids
Study in mice, not people, over 12 weeks. The effect was not confirmed in mice given antibiotics, which points to gut bacteria. Some authors work for Hakubaku, a food company.
Highland barley beta-glucan prevented fat buildup in mice fed a Western-style diet
Study in mice, not people. The beta-glucan raised energy expenditure and changed bile acid levels in the liver.
Who should be careful with barley
Most people can eat barley freely. Take a little care if one of these applies:
- Celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. Barley contains gluten, and people with celiac disease must avoid it for life, along with barley malt, malt extract, malt vinegar and beer. In the US, foods made with barley malt cannot carry a “gluten-free” label.
- Irritable bowel syndrome. In Monash University’s testing, barley moved from a red (high FODMAP) rating to green only after sprouting, so plain barley is the one to watch. Check the Monash app for a current serving size.
- Not used to fiber. A ¼ cup of dry barley has 8 g of fiber. Some people get more gas when they eat a lot of fiber, so add barley gradually.
How to choose, store and eat barley
- Hulled: only the inedible outer hull is removed, so the bran stays on and it is chewier. This page’s numbers are for it: 354 calories and 17.3 g of fiber per 100 g, dry.
- Pearl: some or all of the bran is polished off, so it is less chewy and not a whole grain. It takes about an hour to cook, and a Japanese trial of high beta-glucan pearl barley with rice lowered LDL cholesterol and visceral fat.
- Flakes, flour and bread: the FDA heart claim covers pearl barley, flakes, grits and flour that meet its minimums for beta-glucan (4%) and total fiber (8%). Barley bread cut the blood sugar rise by 23.7% against white bread, but plain whole-meal barley porridge did not in a 1996 trial.
Choose hulled barley for the most fiber, or pearl or quick-cooking barley when you want less chew and time. Cooked barley keeps 3 to 5 days in the fridge, or up to a month in the freezer. Residues are rarely a problem: in the EU’s 2022 testing, 2.8% of barley grain samples were above a legal limit, mostly for prochloraz, a fungicide no longer approved there, and no sample went above the acute health limits.
Sources
- Eating, diet, and nutrition for celiac disease. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
- Questions and answers on the gluten-free food labeling final rule. U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
- Sprouting and FODMAPs. Monash FODMAP blog.
- Eating, diet, and nutrition for gas in the digestive tract. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
- Barley: a versatile and gratifying grain. University of Illinois Extension. 2024.
- 21 CFR 101.81, Health claims: soluble fiber from certain foods and risk of coronary heart disease. U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
- Food labeling: health claims; soluble dietary fiber from certain foods and coronary heart disease. Final rule, 71 FR 29248. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 2006.
- Commission Regulation (EU) No 432/2012 establishing a list of permitted health claims made on foods (beta-glucans and blood cholesterol, beta-glucans and the blood glucose rise after a meal). European Commission. 2012.
- EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies. Scientific opinion on the substantiation of a health claim related to barley beta-glucans and lowering of blood cholesterol and reduced risk of (coronary) heart disease. EFSA J. 2011.
- European Food Safety Authority. The 2022 European Union report on pesticide residues in food. EFSA J. 2024.
History of barley
Barley is among the oldest crops. Remains from the Fertile Crescent show it was domesticated there about 10,000 years ago from its wild relative Hordeum spontaneum, and DNA from wild and cultivated lines points to the Israel and Jordan area as where that happened. Wikipedia lists the earliest known evidence of people eating wild barley at Ohalo II, on the Sea of Galilee, where grinding stones with starch traces date to about 23,000 BC.
The key step was a tough stalk. Wild barley drops its grains when ripe, which suits the plant but not the farmer. Mutations in two neighboring genes made the stalk non-brittle, so the grains stay on until harvest. A 2015 study found that farmers in the southern and northern Levant selected these mutations separately.
Barley changed little in some places. Researchers sequenced five 6,000-year-old grains from a cave near the Dead Sea and found them close to today’s landraces from the southern Levant and Egypt, with no major lineage turnover in the barley grown in present-day Israel since then.
Barley also served as money and rations. Wikipedia notes that barley beer was probably one of the first alcoholic drinks and that barley was later used as currency in Mesopotamia, where a cuneiform ration account from Girsu around 2350 BCE records monthly barley rations. Barley rations for workers also appear in Linear B tablets from Mycenaean Knossos and Pylos.
The grain even measured length. In England, barleycorns were once used as a unit, with nominally three or four to an inch. The word itself comes from the Old English bærlic, “of barley,” and “barn” comes from bere-aern, the barley store.
Sources
- Badr A, Müller K, Schäfer-Pregl R, et al. On the origin and domestication history of barley (Hordeum vulgare). Mol Biol Evol. 2000.
- Pourkheirandish M, Hensel G, Kilian B, et al. Evolution of the grain dispersal system in barley. Cell. 2015.
- Mascher M, Schuenemann VJ, Davidovich U, et al. Genomic analysis of 6,000-year-old cultivated grain illuminates the domestication history of barley. Nat Genet. 2016.
- Barley. Wikipedia.
Frequently asked questions about barley
Is barley good for you?
For most people who can eat gluten, yes. Dry hulled barley has 17.3 g of fiber per 100 g, and a ¼ cup (46 g) has 8 g of fiber, 5.7 g of protein and 39% of the daily value for manganese. Meta-analyses of randomized trials found it lowers LDL cholesterol by about 0.25 mmol/L. The evidence for other benefits is thinner and often short-term.
Does barley lower cholesterol?
Yes, on average, at about 3 g of beta-glucan a day. Meta-analyses of randomized trials found LDL lower by 0.27 mmol/L across 11 trials and by 0.25 mmol/L across 14 trials at a median of 6.5 g a day. The FDA allows a heart-disease claim for barley beta-glucan at 3 g a day, and EFSA concluded the effect is established at that dose. Results vary between studies: single trials here found no significant LDL change.
Is barley gluten free?
No. Barley is one of the grains that contain gluten, along with wheat and rye, and people with celiac disease must avoid it for life, including barley malt, malt extract and malt vinegar. In the US, foods made with barley malt cannot be labeled gluten-free. Hulled, pearl and flaked barley all contain gluten.
Is barley good for diabetics?
It can fit, and its effect is mostly on the blood sugar rise after a meal. A meta-analysis of 31 controlled trials found lower glucose in the first two hours after meals, but no significant change in fasting glucose or HbA1c over the long term. The type matters: ordinary whole-meal barley porridge did not lower blood sugar in a 1996 trial, while high-fiber barley and barley bread did. Check portions and choices with your care team.
Is barley better than oats?
Neither wins clearly. In a trial of 100 people, 5 g of oat beta-glucan lowered total cholesterol by 7.4% while barley beta-glucan at 5 or 10 g did not. For blood sugar, barley bread and oat bread cut the rise by 23.7% and 29.9% against white bread, with no difference between them, and barley bread lowered appetite ratings more. See our oats page for the oat evidence.
Is barley good for weight loss?
No trial here tested barley as a weight-loss diet, and the results are mixed. In 100 Japanese adults, high beta-glucan barley mixed into rice for 12 weeks cut body weight and BMI more than beta-glucan-free barley, but visceral fat fell more only in people with 100 cm² or more. Barley bread lowered appetite ratings, yet a high-fiber barley meal did not curb later eating in 14 women. Dry hulled barley has 354 calories per 100 g, so portions still count.
What is the difference between pearl and hulled barley?
Hulled barley has only the inedible outer hull removed, so the bran stays on, while pearl barley has some or all of the bran polished off and is less chewy. This page’s numbers, 354 calories and 17.3 g of fiber per 100 g dry, are for hulled barley. Pearl barley takes about an hour to cook, and it still counts for the FDA heart claim if it meets the minimums for beta-glucan and fiber. No trial here compares the two head to head.
How much barley should you eat a day?
For the cholesterol effect, aim for 3 g of barley beta-glucan a day, the amount behind the FDA and EU claims. The FDA treats whole grain barley with at least 4% beta-glucan as eligible, so about 75 g of dry barley at that minimum gives 3 g, and high-beta-glucan types need less. Trials used a median of 6.5 g a day for 4 weeks. Add it gradually, since extra fiber can cause gas.