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Beta glucan counts amongst the
classic "functional food" products. It is found in
the cell walls of many yeast and cereal fibres - for example
oats. The average beta-glucan fraction in an oat flake is between
4 and 5.5%.
Beta glucan is capable of activating the white blood cells and
thus of strengthening the entire immune system. Other effects
are the positive influence on the blood sugar and blood cholesterol
levels.
The applications in the functional food branch as well as for
pharmaceutical and dietary applications all call for a product
with enriched beta-glucan. To date, such a product is manufactured
in a wet process combined with extraction and involves high
energy costs and expensive equipment. Hosokawa Alpine, on the
other hand, employs a relatively inexpensive dry process to
achieve excellent results.
Gentle grinding with a fine impact mill equipped with special
grinding elements liberates the cell walls. The ground product
is then routed to a classifier. The fines yield from the classifier
is the high-starch fraction, whereas the beta-glucan –
enriched to between about 12% and 16% (lower starch portion)
- is yielded on the coarse material side.
Schematic of a system for beta-glucan enrichment
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