Antioxidant from purified malted barley

A new and original source has recently been found as the result of collaboration between extraction research experts and the brewery industry. Using an innovative and patented extraction process, the polyphenols have been collected from malted barley at the end of the fermentation process, giving a highly rich composition that demonstrates free-radical quenching and whitening activity.

A nutritious source

Barley, otherwise known as Hordeum vulgare, is a cereal grain belonging to the family of grass. One of the most grown cereals in the world, it can adapt to a large variety of climates, from sub-Arctic to sub tropical. This capacity to be grown locally makes barley a crop with a positive environmental impact. Bursting with nutritional properties and particularly high protein content, it plays a major role in animal nutrition but also provides a source of fermentable material for beer, distilled drinks and other food products. When barley is used for malt, the barley is steeped in water, under controlled conditions, causing it to germinate. At this stage it is known as green malt. This is then dried or roasted in a kiln, a process called kilning, which stops the germination. The barley, previously hard and rich in insoluble starch, at this stage is transformed into malt, a more friable grain that is rich in soluble compounds. Most malt production is used to produce beer and other alcoholic drinks with a small quantity used by the food industry in cake and bread production. In the production of beer, the malt is stirred in heated water and the starch content is transformed into sugar. After diverse mixing and filtering steps, the mixture is cooled in an exchanger at the desired temperature of fermentation and yeast is added to transform the sugar into alcohol, flavours and carbonic gas. Once matured, the beer is filtered to eliminate solids but often, despite this filtration step, the beer remains cloudy, in particular at low temperatures due to association of malt polyphenols with proteins. These polyphenols, undesirable in the beer due to the cloudiness, are an incredibly rich source of antioxidants. By adsorption onto a resin then a patented desorption process, this rich composition, rather than be discarded, can now be extracted, concentrated and brought to the cosmetic industry as a powerful skin care active. Once the malt polyphenols are desorbed from the resin they are collected in a water/propanediol medium which has the advantage of not requiring addition of preservatives for storage. The commercial name of this product is Malt Secrets. One hundred per cent natural, Malt Secrets is approved by Ecocert Greenlife to be used in ecological and organic cosmetics.