Talbina is among the food products not yet studied nor defined by the scientific community. This is most probably due to the fact that talbina had been described by the Prophet  Mohamed Peace Be upon Him, and the religious related topics were not appreciated. This religious description of talbian had kept it wrongly far from science and Medicine. Moreover, muslim searchers worked on topics interesting their advisers in the occident, so, it could not possible for them to think to these very interesting topic in the field of nutrition. Several articles had been published on some traditional products such as miso, tempeh, fermented rice fermented soya etc.. but there is no publication to our knowledge on talbina which is more important than these products. It could be studied in laboratory and also in vivo on mice if the muslim searchers could at least talk about it.

It should be assumed that some scientific aspects are still at a premium, even if some life facilities are being now more and more sophisticated. Let us wonder weither a physician can recommend a suitable diet for patients suffering from hypertention, cardiovascular diseases, cholesterol, obesity, nervous depression etc.. Almost all the described diets for these patients were not really accurate and helpful so they can alleviate these attacks without the use of drugs. More  recently, the dietary procedures had revealed the importance of some special foods and ingredients or natural products which can play the role of natural healing cmpounds. Among these the green barley leaves were a miraculous discovery in the field of food science and dietarotherapy. Yet, the availability of these food products is still not covering the world need, so all the patients could have an easy access to them. Only few specialized campanies can provide these products in sufficient amounts to people seeking for natural diet.

Fresh barley grains may also be more interesting than barley leaves, If the green barley leaves were investigated by some societies for marketing, the green barley grains are not yet investigated for their benefits. Islam had defined talbina which is a special diet made from fresh barley grains. The description of talbina in Sunnah may show its benefits in preventing several diseases as well as helping during the treatment of diseases by the conventional procdures such as cancers, asthma, allergies hypertension and obesity.

Before describing the benefits of the green barley, one would like to examine the hadith of the prophet Muhamed PBH concerning a special food made of freesh barley grains called talbina. Talbina is an arabic word made of the word laban which means fermented churned milk. But laban means also milk and can designate any white opaque liquid even if it comes from trees. This may also designate in the case of barley grains when they reach the milky stage, so the inside of these grains is white and liquid resembling milk.

It is narrated that the wife of the prophet peace be upon him “Aicha”, if one of her relatives die, and after the funerals, used to gather the ladies in the family, and ask for a pot and cook the talbina, after that she would prepare some kind of a meal called: tharida”, which is mainly peaces of bread emerged in a sauce. And she would poor the talbina on it, and tell the ladies: eat from it, as I heard the prophet peace be upon him saying.

Talbina is prepared from fresh grenn barley grains which are first burned directly in fire to romove the straw parts. The harvested grains are roasted in the same way as coffee beans are roasted. Any device supporting high temperatures can be used, rather in earth or metal. But the earth pan was the only one device found in the country side, so the preparation of talbina was an art known and learned to all the country side people especially ladies and girls. The grains should be heated evenly enough because they will be ground and eaten directly without cooking. The roasted grains are ground and the obtained flour is separated into two types of flour, the fine powdered one is brown and came from the ouside membranes of the Kernel. This flour is usually mixed with laban ( fermented churned milk). The second type of flour is a thik white semolina which is eaten after seeking directly in churned fermented milk for more than two hours or cooked in milk. It could also steam cooked as couscous.

One can figure out that cooked flour from fresh barley is mixed with fermented dairy products. This practice is the most interesting in the field of nutrition. We demonstrated in previous studies that when cereals are mixed with fermented milk the mineral and vitamin intake is improved, so the anaemia is prevented as well as constpations and weakness. Fermented dairy products maycontain a high numbers in living lactic acid bacteria up 10⁸ cfu/ml. These bacteria are responsible of the phytates cleavage leading to the rellease of bivalent minearls such as iron, calcium, magnesium and manganous. It is assumed that most of the minerals are bound by phytates in cereals due to the high chelating reaction of the myo-inositol hexakis dihydrogenphosphate (IP6) molecule.

Green barley leaves

Green Barley leaves (GBL) are very known to people in the countryside and may have been served as a supporting nutritional material for animals during the winter season when it is very cold and the grass is still in shortness. Green barley is also known in traditional medicine such as constipation and cosmetics especially for hair. Research studies were carried out on green barley leaves for their interesting chemical composition.

Some campanies began to sell green barley extract through out the world, but for people who cannot buy these processed products, the crude barley leaves is also very benificial for the health and may have the same effect or better. Green barley leaves can be dried under sun but under direct sun light. The dried material is then milled and kept in a tightly closed device. The green baarley powder is infused in water and drunk.

When it is still fresh, the green barley leaves are cleaned in warm water and cooked to make a heavy infusion and drunk. It is very rich in vitamins and minerals and can be used for people suffering from severe anemia and digestive troubles. GBL is most healing product for constipation even for children from 3 months. A tea spoon of the GBL infusion is put in the feeding bottle for babies suffering from anemia and constipation.

GBL composition    

The nitrogen forms contained in the GBL are low molecules weight proteins and peptides, The soluble nitrogen in food is very easy to absorb and also very easy to assimilate

Research investigators showed that barley leaves may contain minerals, vitamins, enzymes, chlorophyll and amino acids in high amounts. 100 g of fresh green barley leaves contain 8,800 mg of potassium; 1,108 mg of calcium; 224.7 mg of magnesium; 15.8 mg of iron; 1.36 mg of copper; 594 mg of phosphorus; 5.6 mg of manganese; 7.33 mg of zinc; and 775 mg of sodium.

The vitamins content of GBL is the highest among all the vegetble materials. 52,000 IU of beta carotene, or provitamin A; 1.29 mg of B1; 2.75 mg of B2; 0.003 mg of B6; 329 mg of vitamin C; 48 mcg of biotin;, 640 mcg of folic acid; 2.48 mg of pantothenic acid; 10.6 mg of B3; and 260 mg of choline.

GBL may contain also the highest level of chlorophyll (149 mg) which act as an antioxydant for lowering free radicals and all other oxydation in the body. This phenomena is likely to prevent cancer and other abnormal occuring reactions.  

The most important enzymes for the body can be supplied by the GBL. These includes superoxide dismutase (SOD), which is a scavenger enzyme; cytochrome oxidase, peroxidase, catalase, which converts hydrogen peroxide into oxygen and water for transport out of the body; fatty acid oxidase; transhydrogenase, which is associated with the muscular tissue of the heart; and others. Physiological reactions cannot take place without enzymes, which may have a vital role in the body for it can live normally. Barley grass juice may have a protective role on the body, a very regulating agent and also a facilitating agent of most physiological reactions in the body through the vitamins, enzymes and mineral contents.