People have been growing and eating oats for more than 2000 years. Oats are famous, whole-grain cereal food. They are produced upon harvesting, when they are being milled and then rolled, cut or ground, depending on the final form, including rolled oats, flakes, oatmeal, oat flour and oat bran. You might know them as porridge or in combined version with dried fruit or other grains in the form of in muesli and granola.
Who would have thought that oats can be also a versatile ingredient in cooking?
Nutritious oats
Oat grains are loaded with good stuff, such as complex carbohydrates, protein, unsaturated fats, as well as vitamins and minerals.
Oat grains are loaded with good stuff, such as complex carbohydrates, protein, unsaturated fats, as well as vitamins and minerals.
By consuming just a one serving of Scottish porridge oats (about 50g), you can get full package of essential nutrients, including*:
- 30.3g of carbs (12% of RI);
- 5.2g of protein (10% of RI), including of lysine and of tryptophan;
- 3.5g of fat (5% of RI), including 2.9g of unsaturated fat;
- 4.2g of fibre.
- 12% DV of Magnesium,
- 9% DV of Iron,
- 3% DV of Potassium,
- 2% DV of Calcium.
Oats boost you overall health. When we are looking at the nutritional profile of oats, it’s not surprisingly, that they are recognized as healthy food internationally.
But what makes oats next superfood?
But what makes oats next superfood?
Oats keeps your skin healthy. Did you know that oats have been traditionally used to treat dermatological problems, such as dry skin or even atopic dermatitis? Oats contains polyphenols, a plant-delivered molecules, which might prevent your body against free radical and oxidative stress. Oat bran is rich in specific polyphenols, called Avenanthramides. These molecules possess potent antioxidant, antihistamine, and anti-inflammatory properties, which have been recognized as remedy in other pathologies, including coronary heart disease, and colon cancer, and allergies as well (Dhakal et al., 2019).
Oats are rich in fiber. As you noticed earlier, oats are good source of soluble fibre, beta glucan, which you might know as bran fiber, oat bran, soluble fiber, or oat fiber. You can find it in unprocessed oat products, such as whole oats itself, whole oat flour, rolled oats, oatmeal and oat bran. Food industry also adds oat beta-glucan soluble to some breakfast product and beverages, like smoothies, yogurt and juice drinks; also nutrition bars and cereals. More and more often you can find it beta-glucan in wheat products including baked goods, rye bread or enriched tortillas, pasta, and crackers, and even in soups, sauces and dressings. Fiber-enriched foods help bridge the fiber gap while delivering excellent taste and additional metabolic benefits. However, you should aim to have a mix of various fiber types in your diet.
Why you should be interested in beta-glucan?
Rich content of beta-glucan seems to determine beneficial effects from eating oats for your health. No matter if you consume oats with milk or yogurt, you will still get wide range of many different beneficial effects on your body:
Beta-glucan makes you feel full for longer. Oat grains are considered as good protein source, what prolongs satiety after meal and reduce temptations for snacking. Instant oatmeal eaten for breakfast also increase fullness. Oats, rich in soluble fibers, including beta-glucan, by forming gel-like, viscous substance, may prolong food digestion and nutrient absorption. Thanks to that, oats may make you feel satisfied much longer after the meal, what impacts on your temptations for snacking (Rebello et al., 2016).
Beta-glucan controls your appetite and hunger. Eating rich in fibre products for breakfast, like oatmeal, seems to reduce hunger and desire to eat. As I mentioned earlier, you feel less hungry during the day, so you will consume smaller portions, less frequent; and more importantly – you have less sudden cravings for sugary foods (Rebello et al., 2016).
Beta-glucan cares of your gut microbiota. Did you know that by eating oatmeal regular, you can increase microbial communities in your gut? Here, I mean ‘good bacteria’, which seems to prevent obesity or aid glycaemic control. Beta-glucan appears to be a perfect food for your microbes. Because we, as humans, cannot digest it, bacteria present in colon, do it for us. In the result, beta-glucan is transformed into short chain fatty acids, which may contribute to the satiating effect and long-term weight loss (Zaremba et al., 2018).
Beta-glucan take care of your heart. Oat beta-glucan has a lowering effect on overall cholesterol, that include LDL-cholesterol, non-HDL-cholesterol and apoB. Therefore, oat-containing foods appear to be a good strategy for improving cardiovascular health later in life (Ho et al., 2016).
Keep blood sugar stable. Beta-glucan has potential to contribute to glycaemic control, by preventing sudden blood glucose spikes following the meal in healthy individuals, as well as people, who are affected by metabolic syndrome, and/or developed high blood sugar or cholesterol levels.
How that can be achieved?
Again, the viscosity of beta-glucan has essential role in slowing down rate of gastric emptying and digestion, what results in steady glucose absorption in the small intestine. Interestingly, people who consume oatmeal for breakfast tend to have significantly lower blood glucose level just after 30 min from meal (Zaremba et al., 2018). Furthermore, stable glucose release not only help to control blood sugar levels, but also it improves insulin response (Wang and Ellis, 2014).
Again, the viscosity of beta-glucan has essential role in slowing down rate of gastric emptying and digestion, what results in steady glucose absorption in the small intestine. Interestingly, people who consume oatmeal for breakfast tend to have significantly lower blood glucose level just after 30 min from meal (Zaremba et al., 2018). Furthermore, stable glucose release not only help to control blood sugar levels, but also it improves insulin response (Wang and Ellis, 2014).
Eat your oats – not only for breakfast
In order to get all health benefits of oats, you should consider eating them regularly.Well … it’s easier said than done if you are not fan of sweet breakfast made of porridge or yogurt and cereals. Don’t worry! Increasing oats intake, does not necessary mean, that you should eat oatmeal every day, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Your meals will be very monotonic, isn’t it?
You can be surprised how easily you can add them to common foods, such as bread, muffins or cookies, without even notice in taste of texture …
Just check out recipes below!
Oat Bread: bread swap made with oat flour. Find recipe here.
Oatmeal raisin cookie: diet-friendly sweets. Find recipe here.
Almond Joy Oatmeal Cookies: for those, who prefer oat flakes. Find recipe here.
Strawberry Banana Oat Bars: notorious fruity bars . Find recipe here.
Oatmeal raisin cookie: diet-friendly sweets. Find recipe here.
Almond Joy Oatmeal Cookies: for those, who prefer oat flakes. Find recipe here.
Strawberry Banana Oat Bars: notorious fruity bars . Find recipe here.
You can also consider swapping other grains, such as white rice, for oat grain as well. In order to check that, try to make oatly risotto, like in the recipe below:
Oat Risotto: instead of rice. Find recipe here.
If you are bored of sweet version of oatmeal, you can try out savoury options for lunch, which for sure will top up your energy levels during afternoon. Not sure where to start? Check out some ideas below:
If you are bored of sweet version of oatmeal, you can try out savoury options for lunch, which for sure will top up your energy levels during afternoon. Not sure where to start? Check out some ideas below:
Oatmeal casserole: loaded with veggies. Find recipe here.
Salsa oatmeal savory lunch oatmeal . Find recipe here.
Sweet-potato baked oatmeal: new version of baked potato. Find recipe here.
Miso oatmeal: Japanese way. Find recipe here.
Salsa oatmeal savory lunch oatmeal . Find recipe here.
Sweet-potato baked oatmeal: new version of baked potato. Find recipe here.
Miso oatmeal: Japanese way. Find recipe here.
Eat your oats – daily!
The benefits of adding more wholegrain foods to our diets are clear, however most of us still consume not enough. Getting recommended 25-30g of fibre daily might save us against metabolic complications, such as obesity, diabetes or cardiovascular disease.
So … get your portion of oats …everyday!
RI - Reference intake (RI) of an average adult (8400 kJ /2000 kcal). ***Percent Daily Values (%DV) are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
If you want to read more about oats and their benefits for health:
Nutritional value of Scottish porridge oats. Fatsecret UK. Available at: https://www.fatsecret.co.uk/calories-nutrition/tesco/scottish-porridge-oats/1-serving Anti-inflammatory potential of oats.
Dhakal H, Yang E, Lee S, Park P-H, Kwon TK, Khang D, Song K-S, Kim S-H. Avenanthramide C from germinated oats exhibits anti-allergic inflammatory effects in mast cells. Sci Rep. 2019; 9, 6884. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-43412-2
Oat beta-glucan soluble fiber. Fiberfacts.org. Available at: https://www.fiberfacts.org/oat-beta-glucan-soluble-fiber/
Rebello CJ, Johnson WD, Martin CK, Han H, Chu YF, Bordenave N, van Klinken BJ, O'Shea M, Greenway FL. Instant Oatmeal Increases Satiety and Reduces Energy Intake Compared to a Ready-to-Eat Oat-Based Breakfast Cereal: A Randomized Crossover Trial. J Am Coll Nutr. 2016;35(1):41-9.
Zaremba SMM, Gow IF, Drummond S, McCluskey JT, Steinert RE. Effects of oat β-glucan consumption at breakfast on ad libitum eating, appetite, glycemia, insulinemia and GLP-1 concentrations in healthy subjects. Appetite. 2018 Sep 1;128:197-204.
Ho HV, Sievenpiper JL, Zurbau A, Blanco Mejia S, Jovanovski E, Au-Yeung F, Jenkins AL, Vuksan V. The effect of oat β-glucan on LDL-cholesterol, non-HDL-cholesterol and apoB for CVD risk reduction: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials. Br J Nutr. 2016 Oct;116(8):1369-1382.
Wang Q, Ellis PR. Oat β-glucan: physico-chemical characteristics in relation to its blood-glucose and cholesterol-lowering properties. Br J Nutr. 2014 Oct;112 Suppl 2:S4-S13.
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