Nutritional Component and Chemical Characterization of Chinese Highland Barley Bran Oil

Abstract

Introduction As one of the most ancient cereal crops, hulless highland barley qingke is the only crop that can be cultivated in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, which has an average elevation of 4000 meters. The extremely cold, hypoxia and extensive UV radiation condition of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau led to the accumulation of abundant secondary metabolites in hulless highland barley. The phytosterol level in barley oil from different areas was 1.20 9.60 g/100 g oil, higher than that of most rice bran oil 1.50-3.50 g/100 g oil 1, 2. Moreau reported that the total tocotrienol content in barley oil reached up to 0.29-0.61 g/100 g oil 3 , higher than that of the rice bran oil 0.077 g/100 g oil and the wheat brain oil 0.19 g/100 g oil 2. It has been reported that tocotrienol in barley oil is mainly α-tocotrienol, whose bioavailability is higher than γ-tocotrienol, while the tocotrienol in palm oil is mainly γ-tocotrienol 4, 5. Barley germ oil has been tested to be rich in tocopherols 6. As a byproduct of highland barley processing, highland barley bran is rich in minerals, oil, protein, polyphenols, β-glucan, oryzanol and phytosterols. However, highland barley bran is now mainly used as feed. Nowadays, highland barley bran has been incorporated into bread, cookies, and crackers making. The results showed that barley bran could effectively enhance the health-salutary components