In lieu of sufficient scientific evidence indicating that including barley in a healthy diet can help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by lowering LDL and total cholesterol levels, the USFDA recently finalized a rule that allows foods containing barley to claim that they reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and put such claim in the products' label.

Health claim such as below is allowed by the FDA in barley products specifically, whole grain barley and dry milled barley products such as flakes, grits, Flour, and pearled barley, which provide at least 0.75 grams of soluble fiber per serving:

"Soluble fiber from foods such as [name of food], as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease. A serving of [name of food] supplies [x] grams of the soluble fiber necessary per day to have this effect."

"FDA is pursuing new initiatives to help consumers improve the choices they have for healthy and nutritious diets," said FDA Deputy Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D.

"We firmly believe that one of the best ways to encourage healthier eating habits is to help consumers get truthful, up-to-date, science-based information about food products so that they can make choices that are based on a better understanding of the health consequences of their diets."

Read the full FDA report.