The risk seems to drop within just three days of eating the bread. Blood sugar and insulin levels decrease, while insulin sensitivity rises, and there is better appetite control, say researchers from Lund University in Sweden.
The researchers carried out a series of tests on a group of middle-aged, healthy participants, who ate some barley bread with their breakfast, lunch and dinner for three days. They discovered that the participants’ metabolism improved for up to 14 hours after eating the bread.
The dietary fibres in the bread, made from barley kernels, helped create more gut hormones that regulate metabolism and appetite, and others that help reduce chronic low-grade inflammation.
Eaten regularly, the researchers believe that barley bread could help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Their findings mirror those of a research team from the University of Gothenburg who had found that dietary fibres from barley kernel increases the gut bacteria Prevotella copri, which regulate blood sugar levels.
(Source: British Journal of Nutrition, 2015; 114(06): 899)
Bread: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/barley-bread-recipe.html
