Barley ?-glucan inhibits digestion of soybean oil in vitro and lipid-lowering effects of digested products in cell co-culture model

The effect of barley beta-glucan on soybean oil digestion characteristics before and after fermentation was studied in an in vitro-simulated gastrointestinal digestion model. The addition of barley beta-glucan made the system more unstable, the particle size increased significantly, and confocal laser imaging showed that it was easier to form agglomerates. The addition of barley beta-glucan increased the proportion of unsaturated fatty acids in digestion products, and reduced digestibility of soybean oil. In a co-culture model of Caco-2/HT29 and HepG2 cells, the effects of digestive products of soybean oil and barley beta-glucan before and after fermentation on lipid metabolism in HepG2 cells were investigated. The results showed that adding only soybean oil digestion products signifi-cantly increased triglycerides (TG) content and lipid accumulation in basolateral HepG2 cells. When fermented barley beta-glucan was added, lipid deposition was significantly decreased, and the lipid-lowering activity was better than that of unfermented barley beta-glucan.