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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallIn controlled studies, treating highland barley kernels with superheated steam at 180 °C changed their starch structure and produced the weakest gel measurements and slowest in-vitro starch digestion among the thermal treatments compared. The findings describe laboratory food-material tests—not a household cooking method or a demonstrated health benefit in people.
What the studies treated—and what they measured
Two 2022 studies by Wang and colleagues examined different parts of the process. The Food Chemistry study treated whole highland barley kernels with superheated steam, ordinary steam, or roasting, then assessed the treated grain and resulting flour. It reported changes in starch gelatinization, gel behavior, protein structure, damaged starch, and retrogradation.
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The separate Food Hydrocolloids study examined starch isolated from kernels after thermal treatments. It measured starch structure, gel properties, and digestion in vitro. In that study, SS-180 means superheated-steam treatment at 180 °C. A related treatment, SS-140, is described as 140 °C for six minutes; that condition should not be confused with SS-180.
What superheated steam did to the starch
It disrupted starch organization
The isolated-starch study reported that heating altered granule morphology and molecular organization. SS-180 especially disrupted crystalline order, short-range organization, double helices, and lamellar structures. These are different scales of starch structure, rather than a single measure of whether the grain was simply “cooked.”
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It changed gel behavior
In the kernel-and-flour study, SS-180 produced the lowest-viscoelasticity gel among the treatments compared and delayed starch retrogradation. The authors also described SS-180 as producing the highest thermal stability in their comparison. These are measured properties of the studied flour and processing conditions, not evidence that the barley forms a particular gel in every recipe.
Several reported percentages apply across treatments, not just SS-180
Wang and colleagues reported that gelatinization enthalpy decreased by 38.39% and degree of gelatinization increased by 38.40% after the thermal treatments. Those figures summarize thermal-treatment effects in the study; they are not SS-180-specific results. The study separately reported that damaged starch decreased by 6.44% with SS-180, while it increased by 32.92% with ordinary steam and 21.40% with roasting.
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What “slower-digesting starch” means here
In the isolated-starch study, digestion was assessed in vitro—outside the human body. The authors reported slower starch digestion for SS-treated samples than for the other thermal treatments and said SS-180 converted more rapidly digestible starch (RDS) and slowly digestible starch (SDS) into resistant starch than the other treatments. RDS, SDS, and resistant starch are digestion fractions used to describe starch behavior in that kind of test; these results do not establish how a person’s blood glucose or digestion would respond after eating the grain.
How the treatments compare
| Treatment | Reported result in the 2022 studies |
|---|---|
| Superheated steam at 180 °C (SS-180) | Lowest-viscoelasticity gel and delayed starch retrogradation in the kernel-and-flour study; substantial structural disruption, slower in-vitro digestion, and the greatest resistant-starch conversion among thermal treatments in the isolated-starch study. Sources: Wang et al., Food Chemistry (2022) and Food Hydrocolloids (2022). |
| Ordinary steam | Damaged starch increased by 32.92% in the kernel-and-flour study. The cited abstract does not state a comparable gel or digestion result for ordinary steam. Source: Wang et al., Food Chemistry (2022). |
| Roasting | Damaged starch increased by 21.40% in the kernel-and-flour study. The cited abstract does not state a comparable gel or digestion result for roasting. Source: Wang et al., Food Chemistry (2022). |
| Microwave pretreatment | Included in a separate 2022 highland-barley pretreatment comparison; the cited indexed abstract does not provide a specific result here for comparison with SS-180. Source: Li et al., Journal of Cereal Science (2022). |
The studies therefore support a specific comparison under their processing conditions, not a universal ranking of treatments for every food product, cooking goal, or consumer.
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What the findings do—and do not—show
- They show: laboratory treatment of highland barley kernels can alter starch structure and flour properties, and the related isolated-starch study found slower in-vitro digestion after SS treatment, particularly SS-180.
- They do not show: improved blood sugar control, weight loss, or another clinical benefit in people. The cited studies report food-material measurements and in-vitro digestion, not human outcomes.
- They do not establish: that a home steamer, pressure cooker, or oven can reproduce SS-180. The reported treatment is a processing condition, not a tested home recipe.
- They do not establish: that retail highland barley grain or flour has been superheated-steam treated or shares the properties measured in these experiments.
Why the result matters for food science
For food developers, the results connect processing conditions with several properties that can matter in product formulation: starch structure, gel rheology, retrogradation, and in-vitro digestion fractions. Those properties can move together in complex ways; a weaker gel or a shift in digestion fractions alone does not identify the best treatment for a particular product. The studies’ abstracts do not provide enough detail to turn the reported results into a manufacturing recipe or to predict performance in a specific food.
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