Technical Abstract: Americans and populations of other developed countries are experiencing an epidemic of obesity and type II diabetes. Type II diabetes or adult onset diabetes once rarely found in young people is becoming increasingly common in school children. Barley may help to prevent insulin resistance and resulting type II diabetes, and also to delay the onset of diabetes in individuals already insulin-resistant. Using a hamster animal model that becomes insulin-resistant when fed a diet similar in fat and caloric content to the American diet, we have shown that soluble fibers including barley fiber prevents insulin resistance. Soluble fibers restore glucose movement into tissues. Tissues deprived of glucose in insulin-resistant animals turn to fat as an energy source. Fat oxidation results in the generation of free radicals and other reactive oxygen species that damage cells. Antioxidants in barley may help to reduce oxidative damage.