The Times - UK (2022-06-11)

the times Saturday June 11 2022

4 Body + Soul

processed and sugar-heavy diet at the

start. Half were asked to switch to eating

more wholegrains, vegetables, muesli and

porridge while under the direction of a

dietitian, and the other half was to receive

social support from a researcher as a con-

trol. All continued to take their regular

medication. After three months, results

showed that depression scores improved

significantly in the healthy oat-eating diet

group, with about one third of them no

longer classified as depressed, compared

with 8 per cent of people in the control

group. “It is now well established that gut

health promotes brain health through

what is known as the gut-brain axis,” Bean

says. “Eating a wholesome wholegrain diet

is good for the gut and your mood.”

Eating oats two hours

before a workout

can improve your

endurance

“You’d be hard-pressed to find a top athlete

who doesn’t rely on oats for an energy

boost,” Bean says. Paula Radcliffe was a fan

and Eilish McColgan, who recently set a

British and European record of 30min

19sec for 10km, claims it is porridge that

fires her to faster running times. “It is such

a simple and easy breakfast to make,”

McColgan says. “It keeps those energy

levels high and prevents crashing.”

Bean says that overnight oats and Birch-

er muesli are just as effective, the reason

being that oats offer a slow-release energy

source that is exactly what is needed to see

you through a long run — or just through

Oats can

reduce

inf lammation

and potentially

accelerate

recovery after

a workout

Know your oats Why the cereal

which makes them the perfect pre- or

post-gym snack.”

And that’s not all. Research at the Uni-

versity of Aberdeen’s Rowlett Institute of

Nutrition and Health has shown that add-

ing oatcakes and porridge to the diet can

alter gut hormones so that inflammation

and blood pressure are better regulated.

Bahee Van de Bor, a dietitian and spokes-

woman for the British Dietetic Association

(BDA), says that while oats contain cop-

per, selenium, iron, zinc and vitamin B1, all

of which are welcome additions to the diet,

it is the presence of other unique nutrients

that sets them apart.

“As well as being helpful to athletes,

AVA may have a role in reducing general

inflammation and regulating blood pres-

sure,” Van de Bor says. “The fibre that oats

contain, called oat beta glucan, is unique

and forms a gel-like solution when it is bro-

ken down by our intestinal bacteria that

can help to control blood sugar after a

meal as well as benefiting gut health.”

If you are not a fan of porridge, don’t

worry. “Soaking oats in cow’s milk or plant

milks, as you might Bircher muesli or over-

night oats, helps to break down the starch

in the same way as cooking oats does,”

Bean says. “This makes them more digesti-

ble than eating them in their natural state

and provides the same nutritional bene-

fits.” Oatcakes — provided they are not

sweetened and contain about 90 per cent

wholegrain oats — also provide similar

benefits. Here are some more reasons why

oats are good for your health.

Oats can lower your

cholesterol

There is little doubt that adding oats to

your diet will boost heart health. “The oat

beta glucan they contain has specifically

been shown to reduce cholesterol and the

fact that they are generally high in fibre

means they are a food associated with a

reduced risk of heart disease,” says Kirsten

Jackson, consultant gastroenterology die-

titian and spokeswoman for the BDA. A

Harvard University review showed that

people who ate the most wholegrains were

better able to avoid heart disease and that

a bowl of porridge daily was sufficient to

cut heart deaths by about one fifth.

A review of 58 studies in the British Jour-

nal of Nutrition found that consuming

about 3.5g of oat beta glucan per day — the

equivalent of a small bowl of plain porridge

or three unsweetened oatcakes — reduced

“bad” LDL cholesterol levels. Meanwhile,

researchers at the APC Microbiome Insti-

tute at University College Cork showed

that oat beta glucan also aids weight loss

and boosts the health of the gut microbi-

ome, both of which have a healthy effect

on the heart.

Oats trigger hormones

that help weight loss

If you want to lose weight, add oats in any

form to your diet. “Oat beta glucan fibre

The anti-inf lammatory properties of oats

are highlighted in a new report. They also

aid sleep, weight loss and even mood

H

ave you had your oats to-

day? There are few health

foods that, while others

have gone in and out of

fashion, have stood the

test of time as well as oats.

There aren’t many that are

also gut-friendly, heart-healthy and good

for the waistline. And as science repeated-

ly confirms that oats are among the best

foods we can eat for all-round health, so

our appetite for them continues to grow.

In its most recent report on the break-

fast cereal sector (to October 2021), the

market research company Kantar re-

vealed that while sales of most breakfast

cereals have stalled post-pandemic (after

peaking during lockdowns), it is the “natu-

ral and wholesome” variety, consisting

mainly of oat-based porridge, granola and

muesli products, that are bucking the

trend. But we are not just eating oats

for breakfast. From oatcakes to energy

bars, oats are everywhere — and with

good reason.

Already known to help to lower choles-

terol and control blood sugar, the latest

research into oats suggests that they can

also banish the kind of muscle soreness

many people experience after a hard work-

out. Sport scientists from the University of

Freiburg in Germany reporting in the

journal Antioxidants described how a

group of antioxidants called avenan-

thramides (AVA), which are unique to

oats and which are known to have benefi-

cial anti-inflammatory effects on the

whole body, can also reduce the oxidative

stress to muscles created when we exercise

vigorously, helping to reduce any

achiness afterwards.

For their trial, the researchers recruited

a group of healthy women and asked half

of them to consume a bowl of porridge

made with semi-skimmed milk two hours

before completing an HIIT (high-intensity

interval training) workout. The others

ate as they normally would pre-workout.

The results showed that the oats had a

protective effect, reducing inflammation

and muscle damage and potentially accel-

erating recovery after a single workout.

What’s more, if you eat oats every day,

it might provide longer-term muscle pro-

tection. In an earlier study at the universi-

ties of Minnesota and Texas, published

in the Journal of the International Society of

Sports Nutrition, a group of men and

women in their early twenties were asked

to take part in two strenuous downhill

running trials on a treadmill. Results

showed that daily oat consumption

“reduced the inflammatory response to

exercise” and also that “pain sensation re-

ported by the subjects was reduced after

oat supplementation”.

Anita Bean, a sports dietitian and author

of The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition

(Bloomsbury), says the recent findings

reinforce the reputation of oats as a

fitness food. “We already know that oats

provide slow-release energy for a sustain-

ing boost,” she says. “But now we can add

the fact that oats reduce the oxidative

stress of exercise and protect our muscles,

forms a gel in your stomach, which means

that the gastric emptying is slightly de-

layed, which keeps people fuller for

longer,” Jackson says. But that’s not all.

Eating oats also triggers the release of

satiety hormones that help to regulate

your appetite, according to Louisiana

State University nutritionists. And Bean

says that because foods with a low glycae-

mic index, like oats, cause less of a rise in

blood sugar and insulin production, it

means less sugar is available to be ab-

sorbed and converted to fat. “There are a

lot of reasons oats help with weight loss,”

Bean says. “Just make sure you don’t add

extra sweetness in the form of honey or

too much dried fruit.”

Jumbo rolled oats

help to control blood

sugar levels

Last year researchers reviewed ten pub-

lished papers on oats for a study in the

Journal of Nutrition that looked at the

effects on blood sugar control. They found

that thick-rolled or jumbo oats, eaten

regularly, led to significant reductions in

blood sugar and insulin responses, but that

instant oats had no such effect. “This is

because it takes longer for your body to di-

gest and absorb less-processed oats,” Bean

says. “Any rolled oats are better for blood

sugar control than instant oats and you

should steer clear of so-called luxury por-

ridges with chocolate and syrup added.”

Eating oats can boost

your mood

In a groundbreaking paper from Australia,

researchers recruited people with clinical

depression, all of whom had a highly

Lowers

cholesterol

levels

ormsagelin t h

By Peta Bee

Porridge: great

for heart health