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Barley is a fiber and starch rich crop. Historically, barley was used as a human nourishment supply. More recently, barley has mainly been used for animal feed formulation, one-third for malting and only a 2% has been used as food ingredient directly. Beneficial effects associated with barley inclusion in diet have been described. It can decrease the glycemic index (GI) and can be used for body weight and cardiac diseases control. Whole barley has also a positive effect in modulating of gut microbiota. Beer spent grain (BSG), representing a solid by-product of beer production, is a high value raw material with good nutritional quality and bioactive carbohydrate composition. Currently, BSG are underutilized materials with the great potential of having a second life as excellent source of isolated ingredients, particularly high fiber and protein for human consumption. Despite being challenging, the recovery of food industry by-products is necessary for reliving the environmental impact of the food production chain and reduce pollution. The positive effect on human health associated with the consumption of barley, alongside the potential recovery of barley waste-streams, make barley a value ingredient in sustainable formulated products and food supplements. Two developmental pathways can be identified in the use of barley as a sustainable food ingredient. The development of approaches for sustainable recovery of barley based by products and the selection of barley able to grow as perennial crops., Barley is a fiber and starch rich crop. Historically, barley was used as a human nourishment supply. More recently, barley has mainly been used for animal feed formulation, one-third for malting and only a 2% has been used as food ingredient directly. Beneficial effects associated with barley inclusion in diet have been described. It can decrease the glycemic index (GI) and can be used for body weight and cardiac diseases control. Whole barley has also a positive effect in modulating of gut microbiota. Beer spent grain (BSG), representing a solid by-product of beer production, is a high value raw material with good nutritional quality and bioactive carbohydrate composition. Currently, BSG are underutilized materials with the great potential of having a second life as excellent source of isolated ingredients, particularly high fiber and protein for human consumption. Despite being challenging, the recovery of food industry by-products is necessary for reliving the environmental impact of the food production chain and reduce pollution. The positive effect on human health associated with the consumption of barley, alongside the potential recovery of barley waste-streams, make barley a value ingredient in sustainable formulated products and food supplements. Two developmental pathways can be identified in the use of barley as a sustainable food ingredient. The development of approaches for sustainable recovery of barley based by products and the selection of barley able to grow as perennial crops.

Biocompatible and bio-based materials are an appealing resource for the pharmaceutical industry. Poly(glycerol-adipate) (PGA) is a biocompatible and biodegradable polymer that can be used to produce self-assembled nanoparticles (NPs) able to encapsulate active ingredients, with encouraging perspectives for drug delivery purposes. Starch is a versatile, inexpensive, and abundant polysaccharide that can be effectively applied as a bio-scaffold for other molecules in order to enrich it with new appealing properties. In this work, the combination of PGA NPs and starch films proved to be a suitable biopolymeric matrix carrier for the controlled release preparation of hydrophobic drugs. Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) was used to determine the size of drug-loaded PGA NPs, while the improvement of the apparent drug water solubility was assessed by UV-vis spectroscopy. In vitro biological assays were performed against cancer cell lines and bacteria strains to confirm that drug-loaded PGA NPs maintained the effective activity of the therapeutic agents. Dye-conjugated PGA was then exploited to track the NP release profile during the starch/PGA nanocomposite film digestion, which was assessed using digestion models mimicking physiological conditions. The collected data provide a clear indication of the suitability of our biodegradable carrier system for oral drug delivery.