Two new products developed by US-based Polycell have been launched on the global market this month, and marketer DKSH has already persuaded a UK customer to use the barley beta-glucans instead of its current oat ingredient in a new cereal bar.
Swedish firm Nutritech is also looking for health food customers as it launches its Aktiv barley powder, an ingredient with only 5 per cent beta-glucans but shown in a new trial to lower LDL cholesterol among people with mildly raised cholesterol.
Barley beta-glucans have the same molecular structure as oat beta-glucans and are around the same price.
But Peter Schkoda, business development and sales manager at DKSH, says there are some advantages.
"Barley beta-glucans have a lower fat content because the fat is located in a different place to the beta-glucans. In oat grains, they are found together and therefore difficult to separate," he told NutraIngredients.com.
"Barley also has a neutral taste that can be an advantage in some products where an oaty flavour is unappealing," he added.
Both companies are working on adding to the clinical evidence to back barley beta-glucans.
DKSH has submitted a dossier of evidence to the US Food and Drug Administration in support of a health claim similar to the one currently available for oats, namely that the soluble fibre source can help reduce the risk of heart disease.
Nutritech has started a trial on the impact of Aktiv on blood sugar levels.
To date, the evidence on glycaemic response to barley has been mixed, with some trials showing oat fibre to have a significantly lower glycaemic index.
However Nutritech director Ruzdi Ekenheim says "there is ongoing research in this area".
Schkoda adds that there has been little development to date using barley beta-glucans.
If new research backs the low-GI of these ingredients, there is potential for use in cereal applications where barley is a natural fit.
"Many bakery products don't have such a healthy recipe. There's quite a bit of sugar in there. If you could change the formulation to include barley beta-glucans, you may even be able to alter the metabolism of other sugars," he suggested.