Advantages to the health of getting your oats

Press, 22 October 1983, Page 12

Advantages to the health of getting your oats

The promotion of new food products comprising a predominance of oats claims health benefits because of their fibre content — a positive outlook when so much dietary advice restricts foods that we like. Research news attributes oat fibre with important influences on the way our bodies handle carbohydrates and fats. But the translation of research diets into foods readily available on food store shelves requires careful selection. Oats are a rich source of carbohydrate, as starch, and their nutritional composition very closely approxi-

mates that of other grains, in particular wheat. Although the fibres of oats and wheat are similar in quantity, they differ in quality or type. Carbohydrate foods — cereals, sugars, fruits, and tuber vegetables — represent the major source of energy, or calories, for most of mankind. And cereals alone comprise about 40 per cent of the total human food .intake.

In some parts of the world cereals provide more than 70 per cent of the energy in the common diet. In New Zealand starchy carbohydrate foods (including potatoes) comprise only about 25 per cent of our dietary energy but nutritionists say that over 50 per cent is more healthy if included at the expense of fatty animal foods. Our per capita consumption of oats is less than 1.5 per cent that of wheat consumption and has dropped by 75 per cent from 1938 to 1977 (wheat dropped only 11 per cent). Historically, specific areas of the world have been linked with a dominant carbohydrate “staple” food, often determined by the climate, geography or ecol-. ogy of the region. But few groups of people in the world exist solely on one carbohydrate staple. Modern technology has freed us from a dependence on nature so that, whereas wheat may have been the staple of our British ancestry, we now incorporate a diversity of carbohydrate staples in our diets. Oats, as oatcakes or porridge, are the traditional staples of the people of Scotland. Oatcakes have to be homemade and unfortunately recipes encourage “lashings” of butter. Porridge, along with, a relatively new product, muesli, traditionally from Switzerland, are well accepted as breakfast foods. Muesli can be made from a base of rolled oats mixed with fresh or dried fruit and served with milk or yoghurt. Bran and wheatgerm are often added. It can be eaten raw, soaked overnight, or large quantities (without the fruit) can be toasted with added nuts. (Moderate oven half an hour — add dried fruit after cooking). All cereals can be ground into flour for cakes or porridge, but only wheat and rye bake into bread. Other grains lack sufficient gluten which, when mixed with liquid and beaten or kneaded, stretches to trap bubbles of gas formed by; S';, the raising agent, to the structure of a soft bread. Oats can be incorporated into wheat breads however (see recipe). Other uses for oats are as a substitute for breadcrumbs in coating foods; or in loaves (either savoury or “tea bread” type); or as “crumb” top pings; or thickening in stews and casseroles. Oatmeal is the whole grain, rolled or cut into flakes — this is minimal processing without refining. When grains are consumed in their entirety, an adequate supply of the B group of vitamins is ensured. However, if the grain is first milled and outer portions of the seed are discarded there is a risk that there will be an insufficiency of the B vitamins in a diet supplying

Good eating Janice Bremer DIETITIAN

grains only in the “refined” form.

Of the principal cereals produced in the world, oats, barley, millet, rye and corn are usually only lightly husked and we are accustomed to eating most of the whole grain. Many of us prefer the “white” or milled variety of wheat and rice however. But if we choose a variety of “wholegrains” and a minimum of refined foods, an acceptable as well as nutritionally “balanced” diet is achievable for everyone.

In the milling of oats only a little of the outside fibre is removed; most forms of oatmeal are not highly refined.

“Rolled” oats are quicker cooking than oatmeal and are made by crushing the oat grains flat between rollers and applying heat so that they are partially cooked. The labels on the new product, “oat bran,” marketed locally, claim a composition not far removed from rolled oats, except that the fibre content is doubled and the fat is reduced. This product does not appear to have the properties of the oat bran used in the scientific trials reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showing benefits for the lowering of high blood cholesterol levels.

In comparison with wheat bran, the oat bran used in the scientific trials for the equivalent amount of starch has a similar protein and

tat content but it has less than half the fibre content. However it has more than three times the amount of a type of fibre that dissolves in water to form a gel. Wheat fibre tends to float when mixed in water and the flakes remain as intact particles. The gelling ability of oats is the suggested reasoning behind its effects on the absorption of nutrients in our upper intestines — both to slow down absorption of sugars (an advantage in diabetes and after meal satisfaction) and to reduce the absorption of fats. Wheat bran does not lower raised blood cholesterol levels whereas oat bran does, possibly largely because it carries some cholesterol right through the intestines and out in the stools; as well as the reduced absorption of dietary cholesterol.

Wheat bran has important effects in other intestinal functions such as the speed with which food passes through, and the bulk of the stools.

The gelling property is virtually unique to oats, the pulses (dried peas and beans), and some fruits, as natural wholefoods that we regularly consume. Most other fibres in vegetables and other cereals are nongelling. The trials have used very large amounts of extracted fibre as supplements (a whole cup of oat bran each day!) Other trials suggest that rolled oats do have similar effects although less significantly.

We need more evidence on the impact of a more natural high fibre diet over a long period of time before recommending that fibre supplements have advantages when eaten in purified forms (without the rest of the grain). Overall the whole grain is superior nutritionally. We need to be sure that oats are presented to us in a healthy form. Oat bars, muesli squares, sweetened crunchy oat cereals and commercial mueslis usually have a large percentage of added sugars and fats. Home bread making is

becoming more “fashionable,” both to reduce the salt consumption accompanying a high intake of commercial breads and as a substitute for the creativity of baking cakes and biscuits. Lack of time to carry out the normal procedures of kneading and rising can be overcome by baking a “noknead” bread. The texture of such a bread is less spongy and more dense due to the lack of gluten development. But the recipe does allow the incorporation of a large percentage of oats which may improve the bread by way of its water holding properties.

Quick oat bread

Measure into a bowl: V/z cups of cold milk and one cup boiling water Dissolve in the liquid: one teaspoon of sugar Sprinkle over one dessertspoon of dried yeast and stand for ten minutes without stirring, until the yeast is frothy Mix the yeast into the liquid with one dessertspoon of oil and lOOmg tablet of vitamin C (optional)

Measure into a bowl: 2% cups wholemeal flour I*6 cups rolled oats Vz cup oat bran or oat-

meal V* teaspoon of salt (optional)

Stir the dry ingredients into the liquid ingredients and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon for a few minutes. Pour the mixture into an oiled bread tin (should be *6 full). Bake at lOOdeg C for 30 minutes then 185 deg C for 30-45 minutes (until the loaf sounds hollow when the bottom of the tin is tapped). A thick slice of this bread will be equivalent in food value of two thin sandwich slices of wholemeal bread.

For variety the half cup of oatmeal can be replaced with kibbled grains, or seeds, nuts, dried fruit, cornmeal.