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Grains · Sprouted Grains
What Is Malt? Sprouted Grain vs. Malt Syrup, Benefits & Risks
What malt is, what sprouting does to barley, what the human studies show for zinc, nursing mothers and the gut, and why malt syrup and malt extract are hidden sugars to skip.
Evidence-based40 sources citedUpdated October 3, 2026
The Dr. Axe Score™
Scientific Evidence
4.4/10
One human study of malted barley itself, trials of related barley products, and solid lab work on sprouting.
Antioxidant & Anti-Inflammatory
4.8/10
Phenolics and GABA rise as barley sprouts in lab tests; inflammation markers fell with germinated barley fiber in a 41-person trial in which people knew what they were taking.
Clinical Effectiveness
4.6/10
A traditional sprouted grain used in small amounts in baking, with better zinc absorption in a single-meal study of 10 adults.
Nutrient Density
5.0/10
Rated against whole barley: more iron, niacin and vitamin B6; less fiber, magnesium and potassium.
Why this score?
Why What Is Malt? Sprouted Grain vs. Malt Syrup, Benefits & Risks scores 4.7 / 10
It credits a traditional way of preparing grain that lowers phytate, and it reflects that malt is used by the spoonful. Malt syrup and malt extract are added sugars, so this score leaves them out. Weighting: Evidence 30% · Antioxidant & Anti-Inflammatory 25% · Clinical Effectiveness 25% · Nutrient Density 20% (4.4×0.30 + 4.8×0.25 + 4.6×0.25 + 5.0×0.20 = 4.67, shown as 4.7).
A transparent, weighted index built for foods. See how it’s calculated →
Malt at a glance
Malt is grain, usually barley, that has been soaked until it sprouts and then dried with heat, and it reaches your kitchen in two forms: the sprouted grain, milled into malt flour or malt powder, and malt syrup, a concentrated sugar made from it.12
- Dr. Axe's view: sprouted malt, including diastatic malt powder, is a traditional sprouted-grain food in small amounts; barley malt syrup and malt extract are hidden sugars to skip.
- What sprouting does: it lowers phytate, a compound in grains that binds minerals, and in a single-meal study of 10 adults, malted barley cereal raised zinc absorption compared with unmalted barley flakes34
- Malt syrup: FDA counts sugars made by deliberately breaking down a grain's starch as added sugars, and a tablespoon carries more sugar than the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines allow in a whole meal56
- Dr. Axe's swap: raw honey first, used sparingly, then monk fruit, stevia or allulose
Malt starts as a handful of barley soaked in water until the grains sprout. Sprouting switches on the grain's own enzymes, which begin breaking down its starch and protein, and then hot air dries the young sprouts to stop them growing.1 Milled, that sprouted grain becomes malt flour or malt powder. Steeped in hot water, it gives up a sweet liquid that's concentrated into a thick syrup, sold as malt syrup or malt extract.2
Barley is one of the ancient grains I write about in The Biblio Diet, the book I wrote with Jordan Rubin, and it has legendary status: Roman gladiators, living on a hearty diet of wheat, barley and beans, earned the nickname "barley men."7 The book's eat list names the grain as "barley (sprouted only),"7 and malting is a sprouting process.
That's why I sort malt into two parts. Sprouted malt, including diastatic malt powder, is a traditional sprouted-grain food, and it has a place in a healthy diet in small amounts. Barley malt syrup and malt extract are hidden sugars, and I'd skip them.
Sprouting reduces phytic acid, a natural compound in grains that binds minerals and blocks enzymes in digestion.Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNSFrom Heal Your Cells (2026)
What is malt?
Quick answer
Malt is cereal grain, most often barley, that has been steeped in water until it germinates and then dried with hot air to stop the sprouting. Germination switches on the grain's own enzymes, which break its starch down into sugars and its protein into smaller pieces.1
Malt is sold as diastatic or non-diastatic. Diastatic malt keeps its enzymes active, which is why bakers add a little diastatic malt powder to yeast doughs: the enzymes turn some of the flour's starch into sugars the yeast can feed on.1 In non-diastatic malt, heat has switched those enzymes off. The table sorts the forms you'll see.
| Form | What it is | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
Malted barley | Whole barley grains, sprouted and kiln-dried | A sprouted grain; small amounts |
Malt flour or malt powder | Malted grain milled fine; diastatic powder keeps its enzymes active | A sprouted grain; small amounts, as a recipe calls for |
Malt syrup (malt extract) | A thick concentrate of a water extract of sprouted barley; FDA treats the two names as the same thing2 | An added sugar; skip it |
Malted milk powder | A dairy-based drink powder made with malt8 | A sugary malt-and-milk powder; skip it |
Read the ingredient list on any malt powder. One that lists malted barley flour or barley malt flour is the sprouted grain. One that lists barley malt on its own, malt extract, dried malt extract, dextrose or sugar belongs with the syrup.
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Open the free protocol → →How is malt made?
Malting takes barley through steeping, sprouting and kilning, and turning malt into syrup adds one more step, mashing. Here's what each step does.
1Steep and sprout.
Barley soaks until it germinates, which switches on the grain's own enzymes for breaking down starch and protein.1
2Phytate drops (lab).
When barley germinated in the lab, the activity of phytase, the enzyme that breaks down phytate, rose by up to 212%, and the phosphorus bound up in phytate fell by up to 58%.3 Phytate is a natural compound in grains that binds minerals.9
3Kilning stops the sprout.
Hot air dries the green malt and halts its growth. In lab tests of four kilning regimens, the hottest gave the malt its highest antioxidant activity, which the researchers traced to Maillard reaction products, the compounds formed in browning.10
4Milling makes malt flour.
Ground, the dried malt becomes malt flour or malt powder, the sprouted-grain side of malt.
5Mashing draws the sugar out.
Steeped in hot water, malt releases its sugars into a sweet liquid that's concentrated into malt syrup, also called malt extract.2 USDA counts all 71.3 grams of its carbohydrate per 100 grams as sugars, with no fiber.11
6The sugar counts as added sugar.
FDA requires sugars made by deliberately breaking down a grain's starch, the way malt syrup is made, to be labeled as Added Sugars, because they add empty calories to the diet.5
What stays behind after mashing, the fiber and protein of the sprouted barley, is the material researchers later tested in people with ulcerative colitis, described in the benefits below.12
Is malt healthy?
Quick answer
Sprouted malt is a traditional sprouted-grain food that fits a healthy diet in small amounts: sprouting lowers phytate, the compound in grains that binds minerals.3 Malt syrup and malt extract are hidden added sugars, and Dr. Axe recommends skipping them.5
The Biblio Diet is built on two principles: eat only what God created and intended as food, and eat food in the form that is healthy for the body.7 Sprouted barley fits both. Sprouting is one of the oldest ways of preparing grain. As I've said on my show, historically almost all grains were either sprouted or fermented, because that helped break down phytic acid and let people fully absorb their nutrients.13 The Biblio Diet makes the same case for sprouted bread: sprouting breaks down the grain's carbohydrates and proteins, which may make it easier to digest and absorb nutrients.7 Malt flour and diastatic malt powder belong in that family, alongside sprouted grain bread and Ezekiel bread.
The syrup is where malt becomes a sweetener. Malt syrup is one of the syrups I've long told people to be careful with,14 and I treat it the way I treat cane sugar: it comes from a plant, and it's still sugar. Concentrating the sweet liquid keeps the sugar and leaves the fiber behind with the spent grain.11
Malt nutrition facts
Quick answer
Thirty grams of barley malt flour, about 3 tablespoons, has 108 calories, 3.1 grams of protein and 2.1 grams of fiber, with 16% of the daily value for manganese, 12% for vitamin B6 and 11% for niacin.1516 One tablespoon of malt syrup has 67 calories and 15.0 grams of sugars, with no fiber.11
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central, FDC ID 169740 (barley malt flour), using the record's cup weight of 162 grams, with daily values from FDA. USDA's selenium value for malt flour is carried over from barley rather than measured in malt.1516
| Barley malt flour | 30 g (about 3 tbsp) | % Daily Value (30 g) | Per 100 g |
|---|---|---|---|
Calories | 108 | n/a | 361 |
Protein | 3.1 g | 6% | 10.3 g |
Carbohydrate | 23.5 g | 9% | 78.3 g |
Fiber | 2.1 g | 8% | 7.1 g |
Fat | 0.6 g | 1% | 1.84 g |
Selenium | 11.3 mcg | 21% | 37.7 mcg |
Manganese | 0.36 mg | 16% | 1.19 mg |
Vitamin B6 | 0.20 mg | 12% | 0.655 mg |
Niacin | 1.69 mg | 11% | 5.64 mg |
0.08 mg | 9% | 0.27 mg | |
Iron | 1.41 mg | 8% | 4.71 mg |
0.09 mg | 8% | 0.309 mg | |
0.09 mg | 7% | 0.308 mg | |
90.9 mg | 7% | 303 mg | |
Magnesium | 29.1 mg | 7% | 97 mg |
Zinc | 0.62 mg | 6% | 2.06 mg |
Next to the whole barley it comes from, malt flour carries more iron (4.71 versus 3.6 milligrams per 100 grams), niacin (5.64 versus 4.6 milligrams) and vitamin B6 (0.655 versus 0.318 milligrams), and less fiber (7.1 versus 17.3 grams), magnesium and potassium.1517 Used the way a recipe calls for, it adds flavor along with its minerals and B vitamins.
| Malt syrup | 1 tablespoon (21 g) | Per 100 g |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 67 | 318 |
| Total sugars | 15.0 g | 71.3 g |
| Fiber | 0 g | 0 g |
| Protein | 1.3 g | 6.2 g |
USDA FoodData Central, FDC ID 169660 (malt syrup). The record sets total sugars equal to total carbohydrate.11
What are the benefits of malt?
Ranked by evidence, the benefits of sprouted malt and the barley fiber left after mashing are more absorbable zinc, more milk for nursing mothers in a malt-based blend, gut support in ulcerative colitis, more plant compounds as the grain sprouts, and a proposed mood effect from hordenine.
Where the research stands
The human research on malt involves the sprouted grain and the fiber left after mashing. It includes a single-meal zinc study of 10 adults, a placebo-controlled trial of a barley malt and lemon balm powder in mothers of preterm babies, and trials of germinated barley fiber in 41 and 59 adults with ulcerative colitis, in which people knew what they were taking. The phenolic, GABA and hordenine findings come mainly from lab studies.
1
More absorbable zinc
Emerging evidenceHuman studySingle-meal study · 10 adults, each ate both cerealsSprouting lowers phytate, the compound that binds zinc and other minerals in grains (step 2 of the diagram above).3 In a study of 10 healthy adults, part-funded by a malting company, each person ate two test breakfasts on separate occasions, a cereal made from malted barley and flakes of unmalted barley, each with milk. They absorbed 22.9% of the zinc from the malted cereal versus 14.8% from the unmalted flakes, while calcium absorption, 21.3% versus 18.5%, wasn't significantly different.4
Study takeaway: people absorbed 22.9% of the zinc from malted barley cereal versus 14.8% from unmalted barley flakes.
2
Milk supply for nursing mothers
Emerging evidenceHuman studyPlacebo-controlled trial · 80 of 117 mothers analyzedAt two neonatal units in Warsaw, 117 mothers of preterm babies were randomly assigned to a powder of barley malt and lemon balm or to a look-alike placebo powder, one sachet twice a day for 14 days, and neither the mothers nor the staff knew who got what. Each sachet held 5 grams of barley malt enriched with barley beta-glucan and 80 mg of lemon balm leaf.18 Among the 80 mothers analyzed, those on the malt powder expressed an average of 6,036 mL of breast milk over the first two weeks versus 4,209 mL on placebo, and 95 mL versus 62.5 mL at the last visit; the trial reported the powder as safe.19 Because it's a blend, the malt's own share can't be separated out, and the product's maker funded the trial.19 A 2026 systematic review that re-analyzed this trial put the difference at about 149 mL more milk on day 7, rated low certainty and significant from day 6 on. Its authors called barley malt a safe, widely available plant product that could be recommended to breastfeeding mothers, and named it among the most promising herbal options for more research.18
Study takeaway: mothers of preterm babies on a barley malt and lemon balm powder expressed 6,036 mL of milk over two weeks versus 4,209 mL on placebo.
3
Gut support in ulcerative colitis
Emerging evidenceHuman studyOpen-label trials · 59 and 41 adults; 2025 meta-analysisThe fiber and protein left after mashing, isolated from brewers' spent grain and milled, is what researchers call germinated barley foodstuff. In an early study without a placebo, people with active ulcerative colitis who hadn't responded to or couldn't tolerate standard treatment took 20 to 30 grams a day, and within 4 weeks their symptoms and the look of the colon lining improved, along with more stool butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid made by gut bacteria.12
In 59 adults in remission, 20 grams a day added to their usual treatment for 12 months kept disease-activity scores lower at 3, 6 and 12 months than usual treatment alone, and among those tapering steroids, relapse was significantly lower.20 In 41 adults in remission, 30 grams a day for 2 months lowered the inflammatory messengers IL-6 and IL-8 from their starting levels while they rose in the comparison group, and TNF-alpha didn't change significantly.21 CRP and abdominal pain also fell from their starting levels with the barley fiber.22 In all three, people knew what they were taking, and the barley fiber was added to their usual care. A 2025 meta-analysis, whose barley result rests on that 59-person trial, found 60% fewer relapses, a result too small to rule out chance, with very low certainty. Its authors concluded that the barley fiber shows potential as an effective and safe supplement for staying in remission,23 and a 2022 review of fiber trials in inflammatory bowel disease named it one of the two fibers that look most promising.24
Study takeaway: in 59 adults with ulcerative colitis in remission, germinated barley fiber added to usual treatment kept disease-activity scores lower over 12 months.
4
More plant compounds as barley sprouts
PreclinicalIn vitro (lab)Lab study · one barley variety, germinated up to 4 daysAs one high-beta-glucan barley variety germinated over four days, its total phenolics rose from about 123 to about 323 micrograms per gram and its flavonoids from about 32 to 124, and its antioxidant activity in lab tests rose with them. Its beta-glucan fiber fell as the grain sprouted, yet at four days it still made up 4.31% of the grain, about what ordinary barley varieties carry. GABA, a calming messenger your nervous system also makes, rose from about 177 to 213 micrograms per gram.25
Study takeaway: total phenolics in sprouting barley rose from about 123 to about 323 micrograms per gram over four days.
5
Mood support
PreclinicalIn vitro (lab)Lab studies · pilot study of 4 adultsHordenine is a compound that appears as barley sprouts and builds up over the next days of germination,26 and malt releases it during mashing.27 In lab tests, hordenine activated the brain's dopamine D2 receptor with about 76% of dopamine's own effect, and the researchers proposed that it contributes to the mood-lifting effect people associate with beer.28 In a pilot study of 4 adults who drank beer, free hordenine in the blood peaked at 12.0 to 17.3 nanomolar within an hour, which the authors judged too low to act on the receptor directly by itself. They proposed that it may add to the effects of other compounds, such as N-methyltyramine, a second dopamine-receptor compound that malt also releases in the mash.2927
Study takeaway: hordenine from sprouted barley activated the dopamine D2 receptor in lab tests, a proposed mood mechanism.
Why skip malt syrup and malt extract?
Quick answer
Malt syrup and malt extract are the same ingredient, a concentrate of the sugars from sprouted barley, and FDA counts sugars made this way as added sugars.25 Dr. Axe treats them like any other hidden added sugar: one to skip.
A tablespoon of malt syrup has 15.0 grams of sugars,11 more than the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines allow in a whole meal. The guidelines say no amount of added sugar is recommended as part of a healthy diet, and one meal should contain no more than 10 grams.6
Across 73 meta-analyses covering 83 health outcomes, higher intake of dietary sugar was tied to harm in 45, and the evidence was strongest for weight gain and for fat building up in the liver and other organs. The umbrella review's authors advise staying under 25 grams of free or added sugar a day,30 and malt syrup counts toward that total like any other added sugar.
Two markers that show how your body handles sugar
Targets are Dr. Axe's functional ranges.
- HbA1c: Your average blood sugar over about three months. Dr. Axe's target is under 5.4%.
- Fasting insulin: How hard your body works to hold blood sugar steady. Dr. Axe's target is about 2 to 6 µIU/mL.
See the cellular bloodwork panel
Have results? Analyze them free → →How to spot malt syrup on a label
In The Biblio Diet, added sugar is one of the Sinister Six the book asks you to cut, and breakfast cereals are named among the poster children for added-sugar foods. The book also lists barley malt and malt extract among the label names for flavor enhancers such as MSG, beside yeast extract and hydrolyzed vegetable protein.7 When you're reading an ingredient list, these are the names to watch:
Barley malt syrup, malt syrup and malt extract. FDA uses malt syrup and malt extract as interchangeable names for the same concentrate.2
Barley malt, barley malt extract and dried malt extract. On an ingredient list, "barley malt" can mean the syrup: FDA notes the terms barley malt and barley malt extract are also used for malt syrup.2 Barley malt is one of the book's flavor-enhancer names above,7 and dried malt extract is the same extract in powdered form.
Malted milk powder. A malt-and-milk drink powder, with 47.6 grams of sugars per 100 grams in USDA's record.8
Short ingredient lists. The Biblio Diet's guideline is to buy food with at most five ingredients.7 See hidden sugar foods for more.
What to use instead of malt syrup
Quick answer
Raw honey is Dr. Axe's number-one sweetener and his first swap for malt syrup, used sparingly, followed by monk fruit, stevia and allulose.31 Use honey in place of the malt syrup, never on top of it.32
If you're going to use a sweetener, honey should be your number one, and after that monk fruit, stevia and allulose are the next best options, as I've said on my show.31 Honey is still sugar, so I'd use it sparingly. Adding honey on top of other sugars, such as maple syrup, coconut sugar or cane sugar, just raises the total sugar load, so let it replace the malt syrup a recipe calls for.32 Never give honey to a baby under 1 year old.33 For more options, see sugar substitutes.
Questions about malt and sugar?
Ask Dr. Axe AI. Answers are grounded in this library, with sources shown.
How do you use sprouted malt?
Quick answer
Use sprouted malt in the small amounts a recipe calls for: diastatic malt powder in yeast breads and pizza dough, where its enzymes help feed the yeast, or malt flour for flavor.1 Check the label first, because a powder made from malt extract, or with dextrose or sugar added, belongs with the syrup.
Yeast breads and pizza dough. Add diastatic malt powder in the amount your recipe gives.1
Read the label. Choose a powder that lists malted barley flour or barley malt flour; "barley malt" on its own can mean the syrup.2
Choose sprouted breads. Sprouted grain bread comes from the same sprouting step that makes malt, and The Biblio Diet puts sprouted barley on its eat list.7
Gluten and allergies. Read the safety section below before you bake with malt.
Malt side effects and who should skip it
Quick answer
Skip every form of barley malt if you have celiac disease: malting breaks down only part of barley's gluten, and the fragments that activate celiac disease survive it.3435 People with a barley allergy should skip it too.36
In lab testing, malt still carried the equivalent of 100 to 200 milligrams of barley prolamins, barley's gluten proteins, per 100 grams, with the protein fragments that activate celiac disease intact.34 FDA classes malt extract, malt syrup and similar malt-derived ingredients as coming from gluten-containing grains that haven't been processed to remove gluten, and malt vinegar is made without distillation from an infusion of barley malt.2 The treatment for celiac disease is a lifelong gluten-free diet without wheat, barley or rye,35 so that rules out malted milk and malt vinegar along with malt flour and malt syrup. For baking, see these gluten-free grains.
Good to know before you use malt:
With a barley allergy, avoid malt in every form; in one hospital's series of 20 children with barley allergy, 90% had skin symptoms and 35% had anaphylaxis36
On insulin or another glucose-lowering medication, watch your readings as you cut added sugars such as malt syrup; your doctor adjusts the dose
With a milk allergy, skip malted milk powder, a dairy-based drink mix8
The bottom line
Should you eat malt?
Sprouted malt, yes, in small amounts. It's barley prepared the traditional way, sprouted and dried, which lowers its phytate, and in a single-meal study of 10 adults it raised zinc absorption. In a placebo-controlled trial of 117 mothers of preterm babies (80 analyzed), a barley malt and lemon balm powder helped them express more milk, and in a 12-month trial of 59 adults with ulcerative colitis in remission, in which people knew which treatment they got, the fiber left after mashing helped keep disease activity lower.
Malt syrup and malt extract are hidden sugars, so skip them and read labels for their names. When a recipe needs sweetness, reach for raw honey, used sparingly, then monk fruit, stevia or allulose.
Your body was designed to heal, and grain prepared the way people prepared it for generations, sprouted and dried, gives it good material to work with.
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Open the free protocol → →Malt: frequently asked questions
What is malt?
Is malt good for you?
Sprouted malt fits a healthy diet in small amounts: sprouting lowers barley's phytate, and in a single-meal study of 10 adults, malted barley cereal raised zinc absorption compared with unmalted barley flakes.34 Malt syrup and malt extract are hidden added sugars, and Dr. Axe recommends skipping them.5
Is malt gluten-free?
What is diastatic malt powder?
It's sprouted, dried barley milled into a powder that keeps its enzymes active, so in yeast dough it turns some of the flour's starch into sugars the yeast can use.1 In non-diastatic malt, heat has switched those enzymes off.
What's the difference between malt and barley?
Is malt extract the same as malt syrup?
Yes. FDA uses malt syrup and malt extract as interchangeable terms for a thick concentrate of a water extract of sprouted barley.2
Is barley malt syrup healthy?
What can I use instead of malt syrup?
Is malted milk powder healthy?
No. It's a malt-and-milk drink powder with 47.6 grams of sugars per 100 grams in USDA's record for the natural, dairy-based kind, about 10 grams in a 21-gram serving, so treat it like malt syrup and skip it.8
Is malt the same as maltose, maltodextrin or maltitol?
What is malt liquor?
Does malt increase breast milk supply?
A barley malt and lemon balm powder did in one placebo-controlled trial: among 80 of 117 mothers of preterm babies who were analyzed, those on the powder expressed an average of 6,036 mL of milk over two weeks versus 4,209 mL on placebo.19 Skip beer as a milk booster: in a study in which each of 12 nursing mothers tried both drinks, babies drank less milk, 120.4 versus 156.4 mL, after their mothers had a drink with alcohol,39 and when the same researchers had each of 11 mothers drink alcoholic and nonalcoholic beer, babies drank 149.5 mL in the 4 hours after the alcoholic beer versus 193.1 mL after the nonalcoholic one.40
Does malt boost your mood?
Possibly: malt contains hordenine, a compound that activated the brain's dopamine D2 receptor in lab tests, and researchers have proposed that it contributes to the mood-lifting effect people associate with beer.28
Freshness & update log
October 3, 2026 — Rewritten under Dr. Axe's byline. The September 2024 page ("Malt: a Natural Sweetener and Cereal Grain with Many Nutrients") suggested swapping table sugar for malt extract; this version separates sprouted malt, a traditional sprouted-grain food used in small amounts, from malt syrup and malt extract, which FDA counts as added sugars, and gives Dr. Axe's swaps, raw honey first, used sparingly, then monk fruit, stevia or allulose. Replaced the pearl millet, sorghum and rat cholesterol studies and the probiotic-growth claim with human studies of malted barley and zinc absorption, a barley malt and lemon balm powder for nursing mothers, and germinated barley fiber in ulcerative colitis, and added the lab research on sprouting. Restated the hordenine and mood research with its lab and human results. Rebuilt the nutrition facts per 30 grams with malt syrup per tablespoon, and added a step diagram of how malt is made, three charts, a Dr. Axe Score, label names to watch, and a single safety section covering gluten, barley allergy, blood-sugar medication and malted milk. Removed a brand-name cereal.
References
- Lemmens E, Moroni AV, Pagand J, Heirbaut P, Ritala A, Karlen Y, et al. Impact of Cereal Seed Sprouting on Its Nutritional and Technological Properties: A Critical Review. Compr Rev Food Sci Food Saf. 2019;18(1):305-328. doi:10.1111/1541-4337.12414. PMID:33337026
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Questions and Answers on the Gluten-Free Food Labeling Final Rule. Content current as of June 30, 2022. Accessed October 3, 2026.
- Centeno C, Viveros A, Brenes A, Canales R, Lozano A, de la Cuadra C. Effect of several germination conditions on total P, phytate P, phytase, and acid phosphatase activities and inositol phosphate esters in rye and barley. J Agric Food Chem. 2001;49(7):3208-15. doi:10.1021/jf010023c. PMID:11453753
- Fredlund K, Bergman EL, Rossander-Hulthén L, Isaksson M, Almgren A, Sandberg AS. Hydrothermal treatment and malting of barley improved zinc absorption but not calcium absorption in humans. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2003;57(12):1507-13. doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601718. PMID:14647214
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels: Questions and Answers Related to the Compliance Date, Added Sugars, and Declaration of Quantitative Amounts of Vitamins and Minerals: Guidance for Industry. Issued November 2018; revised December 2019 (Questions 14–15, pp. 20–22).
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030. Released January 7, 2026 (printed p. 4; PDF p. 5).
- Axe J, Rubin J. The Biblio Diet. Hachette Book Group; 2025. ISBN 9781546008439. Opening principles; food lists ("Grains and starchy carbohydrates": "barley (sprouted only)"); ancient grains ("Barley"); bread chapter ("The Superiority of Sprouted Bread"); "The Sinister Six" (flavor enhancers; added sugar).
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. Beverages, Malted drink mix, natural, powder, dairy based. FoodData Central, SR Legacy, FDC ID 173220. Accessed October 3, 2026.
- Axe J, Cole W. Heal Your Cells. Avery; 2026. ISBN 9798217181353. Grains section (sprouting and fermenting reduce phytic acid).
- Inns EL, Buggey LA, Booer C, Nursten HE, Ames JM. Effect of modification of the kilning regimen on levels of free ferulic acid and antioxidant activity in malt. J Agric Food Chem. 2011;59(17):9335-43. doi:10.1021/jf201253t. PMID:21819143
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. Syrups, malt. FoodData Central, SR Legacy, FDC ID 169660. Accessed October 3, 2026.
- Bamba T, Kanauchi O, Andoh A, Fujiyama Y. A new prebiotic from germinated barley for nutraceutical treatment of ulcerative colitis. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2002;17(8):818-24. doi:10.1046/j.1440-1746.2002.02709.x. PMID:12164955
- Axe J. 10 Signs You Have an Iron Deficiency (How to Boost Iron Naturally). The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2024 (at 22:46).
- Axe J. How Sugar Destroys Your Body & Kicking the Addiction. Dr. Josh Axe (video). 2017.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. Barley malt flour. FoodData Central, SR Legacy, FDC ID 169740. Accessed October 3, 2026.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels. Accessed October 3, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. Barley, hulled. FoodData Central, SR Legacy, FDC ID 170283. Accessed October 3, 2026.
- Cragg A, Levene I, Darabi S, Willcox M. Herbal galactagogues to improve breastmilk production and lactation in mothers of preterm babies: a systematic review of clinical trials. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2026;80(2):146-158. doi:10.1038/s41430-025-01679-x. PMID:41350450
- Wesolowska A, Pietrzak B, Kociszewska-Najman B, Wielgos M, Czajkowski K, Wietrak E, et al. Barley malt-based composition as a galactagogue - a randomized, controlled trial in preterm mothers. Ginekol Pol. 2021;92(2):118-125. doi:10.5603/GP.a2020.0107. PMID:33751522
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