Should You Eat Oats? 6 Reasons to Give Them a Try

Worried that oats are too high in carbs to be good for you? Think again. Oats are a concentrated source of beneficial fiber and phenolic compounds that benefit your heart health, diabetes risk and more. Plus, they're the only known source of avenanthramides -- an up-and-coming polyphenol

Oats have been cultivated for more than 2,000 years, valued as a simple source of fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals, along with phenolic compounds.^[i] However, humans have been eating wild oats much longer, with evidence of consumption dating back more than 30,000 years.^[ii]

While they've fallen out of favor among many people following low-carb or ketogenic lifestyles, oats have much to offer for human health, including helping to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease -- the leading cause of death worldwide.^[iii]

So whether you've been shunning this traditional staple food in fear of its carbohydrates -- or embracing them for their filling fiber-rich goodness -- take a minute or two to learn more about oats' many health benefits, and why you should embrace them in your daily diet.

6 Top Reasons to Eat Oats

Looking for a reason to start your day off with a warm bowl of organic, steel-cut oats, topped with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a drizzle of raw honey? Here are several to get you started:

1. Lower Systemic Chronic Inflammation

Age-related systemic chronic inflammation can lead to organ damage and increase the risk of multiple chronic diseases, including:^[iv]

When an oat product containing 3 grams of beta-glucan was given to adults at risk of cardiovascular disease, it lowered age-related systemic chronic inflammation as scored by an iAge test, which predicts multimorbidity, frailty, immune decline, premature cardiovascular aging and all-cause mortality.^[v]

"Interestingly, the effects of the oat product on iAge^® were largely driven by a decrease in the Eotaxin-1 protein, an aging-related chemokine, independent of a person's gender, body mass index, or chronological age," the study found.^[vi]

2. Protect Heart Health

Oats are an excellent source of beta-glucans, a type of fiber that generates viscosity in the intestinal tract,^[vii] leading to a number of heart-healthy benefits. Eating oats may lower several risk factors for heart disease, including cholesterol, blood sugar and body mass index.^[viii]

Writing in the International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, researchers described beta-glucans as "unequivocally" beneficial for reducing cardiovascular risk, highlighting that beta-glucans demonstrated "hypoglycemic, hypocholesterolemic and anti-obesogenicity activities, reduced hypertension and ameliorated the atherosclerosis condition."^[ix]

3. A Healthy Dose of Beta-Glucan

Eating oats is an easy way to fortify your body with beta-glucans. As a natural polysaccharide, beta-glucan has received much attention for its role in heart health and diabetes, but this is just the beginning.

"In addition to its effects on lipid levels and glucose metabolism, beta-glucan also exhibits antioxidant properties by scavenging reactive oxygen species, thereby reducing the risk of diseases, including atherosclerosis, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, and cancer. Immunostimulatory and antitumor effects have also been reported," researchers with Warsaw University of Life Sciences in Poland explained.^[x]

Beta-glucans are also prebiotics, which support healthy gut microbiota while inhibiting pathogens. As such, they're beneficial for gut health and may lower the risk of gastrointestinal inflammation and colon cancer.^[xi]

4. Lower Diabetes Risk

Adding oats to your diet may also lower your risk for Type 2 diabetes, along with all-cause mortality.^[xii] They have a number of antidiabetic properties that may lead to improvements to insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism.

5. Feel Full Longer

Eating oatmeal increases satiety and improves appetite control compared to eating ready-to-eat breakfast cereal. This is likely due to the viscosity and hydration provided by beta-glucan.^[xiii] This means that when you start your day with oatmeal, you'll feel full longer, which may help explain why eating oatmeal is associated with lower body weight and waist circumference.^[xiv]

Children who eat oatmeal also have a reduced risk of central adiposity -- accumulation of fat around the abdomen -- and obesity.^[xv]

6. Unique Phytochemicals

Oats' benefits go far beyond beta-glucans. They're also a rich source of additional bioactive compounds, including phenolic acids, tocols, sterols, avenacosides and avenanthramides.^[xvi]

Avenanthramides are thought to be found only in oats. Their benefits are still being uncovered, but they have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antiproliferative effects, which may be useful for treating age-related diseases and cerebrovascular disorders.^[xvii]

Steel-Cut Versus Rolled Oats -- Which Is Better?

Oats can't be eaten raw; they must be processed first. This consists of cleaning harvested raw oats and dehulling them to remove the husks, leaving behind groats -- the husked oat kernel. Because these whole oats have a high concentration of healthy fats, they're prone to spoiling. A kilning process is used to destroy harmful bacteria and dry out the oats, helping to preserve them.^[xviii]

The resulting whole oat groats are now ready for consumption and in this form represent the least processed, "rawest" form of oats available, with maximum nutritional value. Steel-cut oats, which are groats cut into halves or thirds, are a similarly healthy, minimally processed option, with the added benefit of cooking faster than whole oat groats.

You may see steel-cut oats referred to as Irish oats. Because they're the least processed oats, they contain more fiber and have a lower glycemic index than other, more processed oats. For instance, compared to steel cut or large flake oats, quick cook or instant oatmeal led to a significantly higher glycemic response in one study.^[xix]

Rolled oats, sometimes called old-fashioned oats, receive an additional processing step; they're steamed and flattened oat groats. This gives them a softer texture and reduces cooking time even more. Quick or instant oats are rolled oats that have been rolled thinner or steamed longer, so they cook even more quickly.^[xx]

Why Choosing Glyphosate-Free Oats Is a Must

Grains such as oats are often sprayed with pesticides such as glyphosate in the weeks before harvest in order to accelerate the drying process. As a result, oats are often contaminated with concerning levels of glyphosate residues.^[xxi] While the use of glyphosate is prohibited as a pre-harvest agent in organic oats under the National Organic Program, even organic oats have been found to contain glyphosate.^[xxii]

Still, choosing organic remains the best way to avoid pesticides in your food, short of growing the food yourself or finding a local farmer who avoids such chemicals. You may also be able to find certain oat brands that test their products for glyphosate and list "glyphosate-free" on the label.

Oats May Benefit 52 Diseases

Want to learn more about the health benefits of oats? Be sure to check out GreenMedInfo.com's oats research database. We've compiled 52 diseases that oats may benefit -- along with 39 of oats' impressive pharmacological actions.