6 Surprising Benefits of Beta Glucan

There are two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Insoluble fiber gets all the attention. It’s the one that stays unchanged in your digestive system, bulking up your stool so you stay regular.

Soluble fiber—and in particular beta glucan—gets far less recognition. Yet, this critical substance, which is found in foods like barley, rye, oats, yeast, and shiitake mushrooms, is being studied in laboratories across the world, and for good reason.

This important nutrient, which doesn’t dissolve in your gut, stimulates many important changes in your body.

Beta glucan can help to support your immune system, lower your cholesterol, prevent blood sugar spikes, aid in weight loss, and more. Plus, it’s even being studied as a cancer treatment.

In fact, beta glucan has been researched and studied for over 50 years. There are nearly 200,000 published studies in PubMed discussing their safety, efficacy, and use. Plus, more than 100 trials on glucan are currently being conducted on ClinicalTrials.gov.

Read on to learn more about this vital substance and why you want to make sure you’re getting enough!

What Is Beta Glucan?

Beta glucans (B-glucans) are a type of polysaccharide, which is a long chain sugar found in the cell walls of foods like oats, barley, and mushrooms. It can also come from microorganisms like yeast and bacteria.

Unlike insoluble fiber that bulks up your stool and keeps you regular, beta glucans are a soluble fiber that doesn’t break down during digestion.

Instead, they form a gel-like substance in your gut—slowing the rate of digestion through your intestines and boosting your health in many important ways.

Benefits of Beta Glucan for Your Health

1. Supports Your Immune System

Beta glucans are powerful immunomodulators and they support your immune system in several important ways.

They activate your macrophages, neutrophils, and natural killer cells, which are your body’s “security guards” against pathogens, by kickstarting a series of reactions that make the immune cells better at identifying and engulfing harmful invaders, removing them from your body.

Beta glucans also help to produce molecules called cytokines, which control how your immune system works.

By encouraging the release of cytokines like interleukins and TNF-alpha, beta glucans make sure different parts of the immune system work together smoothly, making defenses stronger. This teamwork not only fights infections better but also helps the body recognize and destroy abnormal cells, such as cancer cells.

Plus, glucans work like antioxidants, ridding your body of harmful free radicals and reducing stress and inflammation. This helps keep your immune response balanced and prevents it from overreacting, which may damage tissues.

2. Excellent for Your Healthy Cholesterol

Beta glucans play an important role in promoting healthy cholesterol levels because it may actually lower the amount of cholesterol your body absorbs from the foods you eat!

When you consume foods rich in beta glucans like oats and barley, these fibers mix with water in your gut. This creates a gel that interacts with cholesterol-rich bile acids, which your body needs to digest fats.

When the beta glucan gel binds to these bile acids, it prevents them from being absorbed into your body. Instead, the bile acids are excreted along with the fiber, leading to a decrease in the amount of cholesterol circulating in your bloodstream.

3. Supports Healthy Blood Sugar Levels

Beta glucans support healthy blood sugar levels by slowing down the absorption of carbohydrates in your digestive system. Carbohydrates are what create glucose, causing your blood sugar to spike.

When beta glucans form a gel-like substance in your gut, that gel acts as a barrier, slowing down the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates from your food.

As a result, glucose (sugar) from the foods you eat is released into your bloodstream at a more gradual pace, helping to prevent rapid spikes in blood sugar levels and aiding with blood sugar control.

4. Promotes Healthy Bones

With osteoporosis and falls affecting seniors in record numbers, researchers have been studying the benefits of beta glucans for promoting bone health.

Scientists have found that beta glucans may influence bone metabolism, which is the body’s process of replacing old bone with new bone.

Research also indicates that beta-glucans may aid in protecting against bone resorption, which means it may help to protect you against bone disorders such as osteoporosis.

5. Keeps Your Gut Healthy and Balanced

Good health begins in your gut. Beta glucans act as prebiotics, helping to nourish and feed the beneficial probiotic bacteria in your gut, helping to keep it balanced and healthy.

Plus, research has suggested that beta glucan, along with inositol and digestive enzymes, can ease gas, bloating, and abdominal pain in people grappling with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

6. Supports Healthy Weight Loss and Lowers BMI

Research has suggested beta glucans can also aid with weight loss.

In one study, researchers found that beta glucans in cereal had a positive effect on body weight and body mass index (BMI).

Some experts suggest that because beta glucans form a gel in your gut and slows digestion, they may help you to feel fuller longer so you’re less likely to overeat. Plus, by supporting healthy blood sugar, it may help to slow the blood sugar spikes and dips that can stimulate cravings.

Are You Getting Enough Beta Glucan?

Most people are getting a mere fraction of the fiber they need. On average, US adults are getting a mere 10 to 15 grams of total fiber a day, which is far less than the 25-30 grams experts recommend.

Plus, it’s tough to get enough soluble fiber like beta glucan from food sources alone. For maximum immune support, for example, you want to consider taking 100 mg of beta glucan per 50 pounds of body weight. That means if you weigh 150 pounds, you would want to take 300 mg a day.

While foods like oats and barley supply some beta glucan, the best way to make sure you’re getting a consistent therapeutic dose is to take a premium-quality beta glucan supplement, ideally 30 minutes before you eat or consume any other nutrients.

Yet, with so many companies selling beta glucan supplements—many making bold, overhyped promises—how do you know which ones are telling you the truth?

Red Flags to Avoid with Beta Glucan Supplements

Buzz Words Like “Micronized”

Many manufacturers make bold claims about their value, purity, and effectiveness. Some even resort to using words like “micronized” to promote products of questionable quality.

They will tell you that you want to look for a beta glucan supplement that has small particles of one to two microns for maximum absorption. This is downright false!

Instead of relying on marketing claims and questionable information sprinkled across the internet, you want to consult scientific studies on sites like Medline and PubMed for reliable information. What science shows is that with beta glucan, particle size doesn’t matter.

A Lack of Scientific Research

With any beta glucan supplement, you don’t want to rely on a list of marketing claims. Instead, you want to see solid research that documents its potency and effectiveness.

A solid beta glucan supplement will have numerous studies published in well-known medical journals, such as the Journal of the American Nutraceutical Association, Journal of Nutritional Health, American Journal of Immunology, Journal of Medicinal Food, Annals of Translational Medicine, and more.

A Lack of Purity Testing

It doesn’t matter what’s written on a bottle of beta glucan if the product inside doesn’t meet the label’s specifications – or contains “junk” ingredients you don’t want in your body!

You want to look for evidence of third-party testing, which means an independent lab reviews the beta glucan’s safety and efficacy.

A Beta Glucan Supplement You Can Trust

If you want to remove the guesswork and get a beta glucan supplement you can count on, look into Better Way Health’s Beta Glucan 100+.

Beta Glucan 100+ is derived from the cell walls of baker’s yeast. Each batch goes through rigorous purity processing developed by its creator AJ Lanigan who is one of the most respected individuals in the advancement of Beta Glucan Science and Education. The minimum acceptable purity level is 85%, which provides the best immune response possible.

This beta glucan also goes through thorough third-party testing. When compared to more than 200 other immune system products in side-by-side comparison studies, Beta Glucan 100+ was found to be on average 34 times more effective than leading competitors. Plus, its effectiveness is verified in dozens of published scientific papers. 

What’s also important is that Beta Glucan 100+ is sourced from the purest ingredients and naturally fortifies your immune system without any worries of side effects. Plus, it’s considered to be an immunomodulator, not an “immune booster”, which means this product will never cause overstimulation or harm as it provides a healthy, safe immune response at any dosage. The same cannot be said for typical “immune boosters.”

Click here to learn more about Beta Glucan 100+ for yourself and ensure that you’re giving your immune system, and entire body, the support it needs.