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“If the same process used on wheat to
obtain bran is done on barley, there are
still very few beta glucans,” she stated,
adding that research is ongoing. “It’s a
newway of looking at barley andmilling.”
The beta glucan may be key to
marketing barley flour, Izydorczyk said.
Because of the high concentration
of beta glucan and its proven link to
disease prevention, the product can
be marketed with federally approved
health claims. Health Canada’s food
directorate assesses health claims and,
if proven, allows the product to use the
government-approved health claim for
marketing purposes.
Barley in Canada
has had a health
claim since 2012
that states, “Barley
fibre helps reduce/
lower cholesterol, a
risk factor for heart
disease.”
However, obtaining
a health claim is just
one step, Izydorczyk said. Consumers
need to be more accepting of the
fact that foods with barley and other
alternative flours will look different. Pasta
will appear brown or have dark flecks,
she explained, as will bread. At the same
time, many health-conscious consumers
are looking for darker-coloured bread
products and don't mind the look of
barley products. The chemical structure
of wheat means that it’s important
with most baking recipes to help give
standability to bread products. While
n evolution in customer
demand is driving the changing
face of Canada's baking industry,
from research to sales.
For as long as many of us can recall,
Canada has been a traditional market
where flour came from one source—
wheat—and was either white or whole
wheat. Today, Canadian diets are
changing to reflect a diversity of products
in the marketplace.
Marta Izydorczyk, PhD, is program
manager of the Grain Research Laboratory
at the Canadian Grain Commission
and has done extensive studies on the
health benefits found in alternative flours,
including barley.
Although barley
contains gluten, it
is recognized as
an alternative flour
because it contains
high quantities of beta-
glucan, making it high
in dietary fibre and rich
in antioxidants. The
trick is finding that sweet spot in the milling
process. Too much milling “depletes the
goodness,” she said, while not enough
fails to sufficiently crush the barley to allow
the goodness to appear.
Izydorczyk explained that the
beta-glucan in barley flour contains a
compound that, in sufficient amounts, can
reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.
And while wheat bran is created by
removing certain outer layers of the wheat
kernel, with barley, it's the outer layers and
cell walls that contain the beta glucan.
barley can be used to bake with, a
portion of wheat typically makes its way
into a baking recipe.
Thava Vasanthan, PhD, is a professor
in the Agricultural, Food and Nutritional
Science Department at the University
of Alberta and has studied the milling
of cereal grains, oat and barley beta
glucan extraction, andmore. He agreed
with Izydorczyk and said consumers
are looking for products with additional
nutritional benefits, such as those
recognized in a health claim.
“Consumers are really understanding
about healthy eating,” Vasanthan stated,
pointing to a decade of growth and
increasing demand from consumers.
He adds that pulse flours appeal to
consumers with celiac disease for their
lack of gluten, but also for their nutritionally
balanced proteins.
“Amino acids are the building blocks
of protein,” Vasanthan explained. “When
you compare the quality of amino acids
of pulses with cereals, the pulses are
superior quality.”
Pulses also contain high-quality starch.
The slow-digesting nutrient is processed
into glucose, Vasanthan said, and is an
excellent insulin regulator.
But that doesn't mean that wheat is
being left out in the cold.
According to Statistics Canada’s
Cereals and Oilseeds Review, milled
wheat in Canada continues to be the
front-runner in terms of quantities.
Between 2005 and 2010, Canada
milled an average of 2.1 million tonnes
of Red Spring Wheat, 287,000 tonnes of
The Food Issue
2014
Grains
West
58
Feature
“Consumers are really
understanding about
healthy eating.”
–Thava Vasanthan
A