what are beta-glucans & what are their health benefits ?

β-glucans are a type of fibre found in plant foods, such as oats, wheat, barley and mushrooms, whose function is to provide structure to the cell walls.

 β-glucans are kind of special, because their interaction with bile acids and lipids in the gut leads to a reduction in blood cholesterol. Such claims have been approved by the European Commission. (EC has to approve those kind of things for food product manufacturers to be legally able to name such benefits on product labels).

 If you swipe (left), you’ll see an explanation and a visual of how this occurs. 

 A little bit of context: as mentioned in my previous post, dietary cholesterol (the one found in food) is not the same as the cholesterol synthesised in the liver. The one that’s synthesised in the liver is essential for the formation of bile acids, among its other functions. 

 So basically, dietary fibre absorbs bile acids in the small intestine, which means that more bile is excreted instead of returning back to the liver.

 However, to keep things nice and even, the same amount of bile that is excreted is newly synthesised by the liver. This is done by drawing cholesterol from the blood, therefore lowering blood cholesterol levels.


 Different fibres absorb different amounts of bile acids and hence, has varying effects on blood cholesterol.


 While none of the cholesterol lowering drugs currently used are free of side effects, it is generally accepted that different types of dietary fibre, including β-glucans, have positive effects on health without inducing significant side effects.

 Results of experimental studies in animals and clinical trials in humans have demonstrated that dietary fibre supplements not only improve general health but also reduce the risk of various chronic diseases associated with lifestyle, including CVD, cancer and type 2 diabetes, which all have a large impact on public health and society in general. 

 However, medication may very well still be absolutely necessary, as the current evidence shows that unfortunately, food is not as powerful at lowering cholesterol as drugs are, so for someone with serious hypercholesterolemia (high levels of blood cholesterol), β-glucans and other fibres would not be enough to reach healthy levels.