tuneTypical Dose
15 g/day young barley leaf extract in older 4-week trials, or 480 mg/day barley sprout extract in a newer 12-week trial
Supplement
Barley Grass
Hordeum vulgare grass
Evidence TierDWADA NOT PROHIBITED
watchEffect Window
Older leaf-extract signals appeared by 4 weeks. The newer sprout-extract trial ran for 12 weeks.
check_circleCompliance
WADA NOT PROHIBITED
Overview
Clinical Summary
Barley grass has limited standalone human evidence, with small antioxidant and fatty-liver signals but no dependable lipid-lowering effect in healthy adults.
Direct human evidence for barley grass remains thin and formulation specific. The older small trials used young barley leaf extract and found oxidized-LDL and antioxidant signals, while a later placebo-controlled barley sprout trial in healthy adults did not show significant cholesterol lowering. A 12-week barley sprout extract trial in habitual alcohol drinkers with fatty liver suggests oxidative-stress and liver-injury signals in that narrow population, but that is not a general liver-health claim. Overall, barley grass remains a low-confidence supplement with much narrower evidence than typical greens marketing suggests.
Barley grass and barley sprout extracts contain flavonoids and antioxidant compounds such as saponarin, but human evidence currently supports only limited oxidative-stress signals and inconsistent lipid effects.
Outcomes
What This Is Expected To Influence
Primary Outcomes
- No well-established standalone clinical use
- Possible oxidative-stress marker support
Secondary Outcomes
- Inconsistent lipid effects
- Population-specific liver marker support
Safety
Contraindications and Interactions
Contraindications
No entries provided
Side effects
- Mild GI upset
Interactions
No entries provided
Avoid if
- You are relying on it for validated detox, liver treatment, or lipid management
- You need a product with verified gluten-free manufacturing controls and the formulation cannot provide that documentation
Evidence
Study-level References
barley-grass-SRC-001Controlled clinical trial
Sourceopen_in_newYu YM, Chang WC, Liu CS, Tsai CM. Effect of young barley leaf extract and adlay on plasma lipids and LDL oxidation in hyperlipidemic smokers. Biol Pharm Bull. 2004;27(6):802-805. doi:10.1248/bpb.27.802. PMID:15187421.
Population: Hyperlipidemic adults including both smokers and non-smokers.
Dose protocol: Young barley leaf extract 15 g daily for 4 weeks in 40 hyperlipidemic adults.
Key findings: Reduced plasma total and LDL cholesterol and increased LDL oxidation lag phase versus baseline in a small active-comparator study. Antioxidative effects appeared stronger with barley leaf extract than adlay and weaker in smokers.
Notes: Older active-comparator trial without clear blinding or randomization details. Useful for signal detection, but not strong confirmation of lipid efficacy.
Paper content
This 4-week controlled clinical trial enrolled 40 hyperlipidemic adults, including smokers and non-smokers, and compared young barley leaf extract 15 g daily with adlay 60 g daily. Both interventions lowered plasma total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol and increased the lag phase of LDL oxidation versus baseline. Young barley leaf extract appeared to have a stronger antioxidative effect than adlay, and the antioxidative signal was less pronounced in smokers than in non-smokers. The study offers an early direct human lipid and oxidative-stress signal for barley leaf extract, but it is small, short, uses an active comparator instead of placebo, and does not clearly report blinding or randomization.
barley-grass-SRC-002Controlled clinical trial
Sourceopen_in_newYu YM, Chang WC, Chang CT, Hsieh CL, Tsai CE. Effects of young barley leaf extract and antioxidative vitamins on LDL oxidation and free radical scavenging activities in type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Metab. 2002;28(2):107-114. PMID:11976562.
Population: Adults with type 2 diabetes.
Dose protocol: Young barley leaf extract 15 g daily, alone or combined with vitamins C and E, for 4 weeks in 36 adults with type 2 diabetes.
Key findings: Barley leaf extract lowered free-radical signals, preserved LDL-vitamin E content, and inhibited LDL oxidation. The combination with vitamins C and E showed a stronger effect on small dense LDL oxidation than barley leaf extract alone.
Notes: Small short-term controlled trial focused on surrogate antioxidant endpoints in type 2 diabetes. It supports plausibility, not broad clinical efficacy.
Paper content
This 4-week controlled clinical trial enrolled 36 adults with type 2 diabetes and assigned them to young barley leaf extract 15 g daily, vitamins C and E 200 mg each daily, or the combination. Across groups, blood free-radical signals fell, LDL-vitamin E content increased, and resistance to LDL oxidation improved. The combination arm showed the largest effect on small dense LDL oxidation, with about a 4-fold greater increase in lag time than barley leaf extract alone. The study supports an antioxidant and oxidized-LDL signal for barley leaf extract, but it is limited by small size, short duration, active-comparator design, and unclear randomization and blinding methods.
barley-grass-SRC-003Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial
Sourceopen_in_newByun AR, Chun H, Lee J, Lee SW, Lee HS, Shim KW. Effects of a Dietary Supplement with Barley Sprout Extract on Blood Cholesterol Metabolism. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2015;2015:473056. doi:10.1155/2015/473056. PMID:26101533.
Population: Healthy adult volunteers without major chronic disease.
Dose protocol: One 500 mg capsule of barley sprout extract daily for 12 weeks in 51 healthy volunteers.
Key findings: Total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol were not significantly lower than placebo after 12 weeks, and no meaningful clinical or laboratory differences were observed between groups.
Notes: This placebo-controlled null trial is important because it limits overstatement of lipid benefits in generally healthy adults.
Paper content
This randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial enrolled 51 healthy adult volunteers who completed 12 weeks of barley sprout extract or placebo. The active product was a 500 mg barley sprout extract capsule taken once daily. The extract was produced from freeze-dried young barley leaves and characterized for multiple polyphenols and policosanol compounds, including hexacosanol. After 12 weeks, neither total cholesterol nor LDL cholesterol was significantly lower than placebo, and no meaningful between-group differences were reported in the broader laboratory profile. The trial is important because it is the cleanest direct placebo-controlled lipid study in a generally healthy population and it was null, which materially limits broad cholesterol-lowering claims for barley grass or barley sprout products.
barley-grass-SRC-004Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled parallel trial
Sourceopen_in_newPark H, Lee E, Kim Y, Jung HY, Kim KM, Kwon O. Metabolic Profiling Analysis Reveals the Potential Contribution of Barley Sprouts against Oxidative Stress and Related Liver Cell Damage in Habitual Alcohol Drinkers. Antioxidants (Basel). 2021;10(3):459. doi:10.3390/antiox10030459. PMID:33804285.
Population: Habitual alcohol drinkers with fatty liver and elevated liver-injury or alcohol-related liver-risk markers.
Dose protocol: Barley sprouts extract powder 480 mg daily for 12 weeks in 76 habitual alcohol drinkers with fatty liver.
Key findings: The extract lowered urinary lipid-peroxidation markers and improved glutathione-related antioxidant measures, with a narrow signal suggesting benefit for some liver-fat and GGT responder subgroups.
Notes: This is the strongest modern placebo-controlled study, but it is formulation specific and restricted to habitual alcohol drinkers with fatty liver.
Paper content
This randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial enrolled 76 habitual alcohol drinkers with fatty liver and assigned them to barley sprouts extract powder 480 mg daily or placebo for 12 weeks. The extract was ethanol-derived, spray-dried, and standardized to saponarin. The study found reduced oxidative-stress burden, including lower urinary malondialdehyde and improvement in glutathione-related antioxidant measures, with a numerical but non-significant fall in oxidized LDL versus placebo. The investigators also reported metabolomic pathway changes consistent with glutathione-related lipid metabolism. Liver fat content and GGT findings were most persuasive in responder analyses defined by baseline oxidative-stress or glutathione-related features rather than as a broad uniform treatment effect. This makes the trial useful but narrow evidence for formulation-specific oxidative-stress and liver-injury support in habitual alcohol drinkers with fatty liver, not a general liver-health claim for barley grass.