Effects of intake of high functional barley on body condition including minor health complaints in healthy adults-a randomized, single-blind study

Abstract

Recently people with minor health complaints (MHC) (i. e. irritability and fatigue) have been increasing. A randomized，single-blind study determines whether ingesting barley with high content of functional compounds (GABA, β-glucan, fructan) improves body condition including MHC in healthy adults was carried out. A total of 44 healthy subjects (ages: 23–60 years) were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The control group received steamed barley cv. “Ichibanboshi” and the test group received steamed barley cv. “Hokuriku hadakamochi 68”. Several stress responses including MHC, bowel movement, body composition were analyzed at weeks 0, 4 and 8 of the intake periods. MHC was assessed by the Brief Job-Stress Questionnaire that uses the items for liveliness, irritability, fatigue, and body complaints. The test group significantly showed higher liveliness and tended to show lower fatigue compared with control group at 8 week, and but not for other MHC items described above. Changes of several mental stress responses expressed visual analogue scale from 0 to 4 week tented to be improved in test group compared with control group, and but not for at 8 week. Defecation frequency in test group was higher than that of control group, but those were within normal status. There was no difference in body composition between two groups. Hence, an intake of “Hokuriku hadakamochi 68” might improve mental stress responses although future study using objective indicators and optimum intake period will be needed to clarify those effects.