More and more people around the world suffer from inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn's disease or colorectal cancer. Crohn's disease affects approximately 10 million people worldwide, and colorectal cancer - the second most common cause of death after lung cancer - is diagnosed in 1.8 million people every year. The treatment of these diseases is long and burdensome, which is why scientists are looking for effective methods to support pharmacological therapy.

A research team from the Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (WULS-SGGW), in collaboration with other Polish research centres, have been analysing the health-promoting properties of beta-glucans - polysaccharides obtained from oats, the university office reports in a release. The scientists have demonstrated the great medicinal potential of these compounds. Complex sugars obtained from oats alleviate intestinal inflammation, promote the regeneration of the gastric mucosa and inhibit the development of colorectal cancer.

The researchers are now testing the effects of beta-glucans in domestic pigs and on cell cultures from the human colon. Preclinical studies will determine whether these substances can be effectively used as nutraceuticals - food ingredients that combine nutritional value with medicinal properties.

'If the results of this research confirm our earlier observations, oat beta-glucans may become a non-invasive, natural method of supporting the treatment of intestinal diseases', says Professor Joanna Gromadzka-Ostrowska from the Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, head of research on oat polysaccharides, quoted in the release.

Her team hopes that a new era in the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases is coming, and that new discoveries will bring relief to patients around the world. The next stages of research may open the way to the use of beta-glucans in everyday clinical and dietary practice. (PAP)

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