Structure and Characteristic of β-Glucan in Cereal: A Review

This article presents an overview of the structure, extraction methods, rheological properties and physiological properties of cereal β-glucan. β-Glucan is a very valuable functional ingredient and which distributes widely in various cereals such as oat, barley, and wheat. The β-glucan from oats is well studied up to now and shows obvious health benefits. The structure of β-glucan is a linear chain polysaccharide made of units of β-D-glucopyranosyl residues linked by 1,3 and 1,4 glycosidic bonds. The β-1,3 linkage break up the uniform structure of the β-D-glucan, allowing it to form viscous solutions upon solubilization. The extraction yield, purity, structure, rheological properties and physiological properties of β-glucan is determined by the temperature, pH, extraction time, particle size, solvent and the raw material, environmental conditions, processing technology, and extraction methods. The relationship between molecular structure and physicochemical properties, as well as physiological properties, should be clarified, especially the mechanism of β-glucan enhancing the immune system. Practical Applications In the world, there is a growing interest in β-glucan as the food ingredients and resources. Many industries want to find the economic methods to extract high purity β-glucan from cereal and their by-products for food or cosmetic using, it provide the up-to-date extraction methods can be used for the industry utilization, and also the health benefits of β-glucan can be used as the reference for the advertisement.