A high-fiber barley variety developed by CSIRO called BARLEYmax® will soon find its way in the Australian market.

Photo Credit: CSIRO
BARLEYmax® contains more than twice the amount of insoluble and soluble fibre found in wheat or oats, as well as resistant starch, which helps promote healthy digestive bacteria.
BARLEYmax Business Manager, CSIRO’s Geoff Ball, says clinical testing by CSIRO Human Nutrition has shown that products made with BARLEYmax – such as breakfast cereals, muffins and breads – have a low Glycaemic Index and strong bowel health attributes.
“Further testing showed BARLEYmax has excellent processing properties and foods made with the new grain have …read more

Yakult is probably the most widely sold probiotic product in the world. It’s been around for more than 70 years now and even as a child I already knew those little bottles delivered to us by so-called Yakult ladies. Today, my son gets it daily from the kindergarten and it is a constant in our grocery list.
What makes Yakult healthy? Yakult UK summarizes the health benefits of Yakult:
The good gut flora helps to neutralise some of the toxic by-products of digestion, reduce harmful substances (such as toxins and carcinogens), and discourage harmful bacteria and yeasts from setting up home within …read more

Probiotics has been considered to be a powerful tool in helping strengthen immune systems and reduce the effects of allergies, asthma, and other chronic immune-related diseases.
Although I find this article to be a bit too negative on the use of antibiotics, it does explain well how probiotics can put our body microflora into balance, particularly after a long treatment regimen with antibiotics.
“It’s important to remember that the other half of the therapy is to replant the forest with the good bacteria,” Huffnagle says. And while scientists are still trying to determine exactly how the microflora in the digestive tract …read more

In a previous article, we have discussed what probiotic foods are and how they boost health by helping us keep a healthy gut microflora. According to the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide, probiotic food consumption my help against th e following conditions:

digestive disorders, including diarrhea, Crohn’s disease, and irritable bowel syndrome
urogenital diseases, such as bacterial vaginosis, yeast infection, and urinary tract infection
allergies and eczema

Let’s zoom in on the last one. There’s a new study published in the the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology, supporting previous findings that the consumption of pre-and probitics does prevent the onset of atopic …read more

I know I should have done this earlier, but, well, beter late than never. I’m creating my list of links as I would like to point out other fabulous resources out there in the www that would likely interest you readers of Eating Fabulous.
I’ll start slowly and I’ll add more as I encounter relevant sites, so you’ll soon see that list on the sidebar grow. There are hundreds (maybe thousands?) of blogs and websites on food and health and diet and nutrition. I’ll try my best to screen for trustworthy ones and those relevant to the discussion of functional foods, …read more

Although I live in Europe, I have never tasted kefir, which is supposed to have originated from these parts. Kefir is a fermented milk product, like yoghurt, and results from the labor of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts. The most commonly used strains are Lactobacillus acidophilus and Saccharomyces kefir, although the exact combination of bacteria and yeasts may vary between.
And like yoghurt, kefir seems to have probiotic effects, enhancing the populations of beneficial bacteria in the gut, and inhibit the growth of potentially harmful bacteria. According to a new study on mice, milk kefir and soymilk kefir significantly increased the …read more

You see it on the labels of your yoghurt, cheese, or other processed food products: “Live Active Culture”. I even saw some salami at the supermarket bearing the word: Probiotic. But what does probiotic really mean?
Our digestive tracts (or other parts of our body, for that matter) are full of microorganisms. Not all of them are bad and cause disease. In fact, some of them are beneficial. In contrast to antibiotics which we take to kill the disease-causing bugs, probiotics are composed of microorganisms that help promote the growth of beneficial bacteria. By competing for space and nutrients, these “good” …read more

Ah, the first post is always the hardest to write. But I’ve lots of foodie goodies to share with you so let me just rattle this one away, ok…
What is this blog gonna be about?
The star of the show are foods that does more than simply fill in an empty stomach. More than satisfying nutritional requirements, functional foods and nutraceuticals provide specific health benefits. We’ll be talking about why and how tomatoes help in reducing heart disease and some cancers. Or how probiotic yoghurt helps keep disease-causing bacteria in the gut in check. Or, hey, did you know that …read more