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Beta-glucan

The soluble fiber in oats and barley. About 3 g a day lowers LDL cholesterol a little.

Updated

What it is

Beta-glucan is a soluble fiber found mostly in oats and barley. Like other soluble fibers, it attracts water and turns to gel as you digest it, which slows digestion.

How much you need

3 g a day. That’s the amount in the FDA’s heart health claim for oats and barley, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, and in the EU’s cholesterol claim for oats. A review of 28 trials found that 3 g or more a day lowered LDL cholesterol by about 0.25 mmol/L (about 10 mg/dL).

Where to find it

Oats and barley are about 4 to 5% beta-glucan by weight, and oat bran 7 to 10%. So 3 g takes about 70 g of rolled oats (just under 1 cup, dry) or 30 to 40 g of oat bran (about ⅓ to ½ cup).

Mushroom and yeast beta-glucans

Beta-glucans from yeast and mushrooms are built differently, with branched chains. The cholesterol research and claims are about beta-glucan from oats and barley.

Questions

Does beta-glucan lower cholesterol?

Yes, a little. In a review of 28 trials, 3 g or more a day of oat beta-glucan lowered LDL cholesterol by about 0.25 mmol/L (about 10 mg/dL), without changing HDL cholesterol or triglycerides.

How much beta-glucan is in oatmeal?

Oats are about 4 to 5% beta-glucan, so a bowl made from ½ cup (40 g) of dry oats has about 1.6 to 2 g. Two bowls a day gets you past 3 g.

Is beta-glucan soluble or insoluble fiber?

Soluble. Like other soluble fibers, it attracts water and turns to gel as you digest it.

Does barley count as much as oats?

Yes. The FDA’s heart health claim counts beta-glucan from barley the same as from oats, toward the same 3 g a day.

Are mushroom and yeast beta-glucans the same?

No. They’re built differently, and the cholesterol research and claims are about beta-glucan from oats and barley.

Sources

  1. FDA: Health claims: soluble fiber from certain foods and risk of coronary heart disease (21 CFR 101.81)
  2. EFSA (2010): Oat beta-glucan and lowering blood cholesterol. EFSA Journal 8(12):1885
  3. Whitehead et al. (2014): Cholesterol-lowering effects of oat β-glucan: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
  4. El Khoury et al. (2012): Beta glucan: health benefits in obesity and metabolic syndrome. Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism
  5. Henrion et al. (2019): Cereal β-glucans: the impact of processing and how it affects physiological responses. Nutrients
  6. Du et al. (2019): A concise review on the molecular structure and function relationship of β-glucan. International Journal of Molecular Sciences

General information, not medical advice. If you have a health condition or take medicines, ask your doctor before adding a fiber supplement.