Treatment of ulcerative colitis with germinated barley foodstuff feeding: a pilot study

Background Germinated barley foodstuff (GBF) has been shown to attenuate intestinal injury in animal models, largely by increasing luminal short‐chain fatty acid production. Aim To investigate the safety and efficacy of GBF in the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC). Methods Ten patients with active UC received 30 g of GBF daily for 4 weeks in an open‐label treatment protocol while the baseline anti‐inflammatory therapy was continued. The response to treatment was evaluated clinically and endoscopically. Pre‐ and post‐treatment stool concentrations of short‐chain fatty acids were measured by gas‐liquid chromatography. Results Patients showed improvement in their clinical activity index scores, with a significant decrease in the score from 6.9 ± 1.4 to 2.8 ± 1.5 (mean ± S.E.M., P