Here's why oats are among the best foods we can eat for all-round health

Not only are oats a sustaining food, they also help to reduce cholesterol levels, control blood sugars and, according to new research, ease muscle pain 

Oats are a complex carb food with a low glycaemic index, meaning they offer this sustained energy

Over a million servings of Flahavan’s porridge oats are consumed in Ireland each week. And we are not just eating oats for breakfast. From oatcakes to on-the-go overnight oats and oaty-energy bars, oats are almost everywhere — and with increasingly good reason. Few health foods have endured the test of time as well as oats, nor many that can single-handedly lay claim to being gut-friendly, heart healthy and kind to the waistline. As our appetite for them grows, scientists repeatedly confirm oats are among the best foods we can eat for all-round health.

Already known to help lower cholesterol and help to control blood sugar, the latest research into oats suggests they can banish the kind of muscle soreness many experience after an intense workout. Sport scientists from the University of Freiburg in Germany reporting in the journal Antioxidants described how a group of antioxidants called avenanthramides (AVA), which are unique to oats, reduce the oxidative stress to muscles created when we exercise vigorously, helping to reduce 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 a HIIT (high-intensity interval training) workout. The others ate as they normally would pre-workout. Blood tests to measure markers of muscle damage were taken at regular intervals. The results showed the oats had a protective effect, reducing inflammation and muscle damage and potentially accelerating recovery after a single workout.

Eat oats every day and it might provide longer-term muscle protection. In an earlier study at the universities of Minnesota and Texas published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, a group of men and women in their early 20s were asked to participate in two strenuous downhill running trials on a treadmill. Results showed that daily oat consumption “reduced the inflammatory response to exercise” and that “pain sensation reported by the subjects was reduced after oat supplementation”.

It’s not just exercisers who will benefit from eating more oats. Research at the University of Aberdeen’s Rowlett Institute of Nutrition and Health has shown that adding oatcakes and porridge to the diet can alter gut hormones so that inflammation and blood pressure are better regulated. Oats contain copper, selenium, iron, zinc and vitamin B1, all of which are welcome additions to the diet, but the uniqueness of other oat nutrients sets them apart.

Nutritional therapist Ian Marber says oats can be helpful in reducing general inflammation and regulating blood pressure. “They are an excellent source of a type of fibre called oat beta-glucan which forms a gel-like solution that can help to control blood sugar as well as benefiting gut health when it is broken down and fermented by our intestinal bacteria.”

Need more reason to get your oats? Here’s why you should try to eat them every day:

Oats can improve your endurance

Catherina McKiernan, the legendary Irish marathon runner, is a big fan of oats and recommends them to all fitness enthusiasts. “As a slow-release carbohydrate, they are fantastic before exercise,” McKiernan says.

Overnight oats and Bircher muesli are just as effective because oats offer a slow-release energy source that is exactly what is needed to see you through a long run — or just through to lunchtime at your desk.

“Oats are a complex carb food with a low glycaemic index, meaning they offer this sustained energy,” Marber says.

Over a million servings of Flahavan’s porridge oats are consumed in Ireland each week

Consume oats daily to boost heart health

There is little doubt that adding oats to your diet will boost heart health. A Harvard University review showed that people who ate the most wholegrains were better able to avoid heart disease over the age of 16 and that a bowl of porridge daily was sufficient to cut heart deaths by about one fifth and a review of 58 studies in the British Journal of Nutrition found that consuming about 3.5g of oat beta glucan per day — the equivalent of a small bowl of plain porridge and three unsweetened oatcakes — reduced ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol levels. Meanwhile, researchers at the APC Microbiome Institute at University College Cork showed that oat beta-glucan also aids weight loss and boosts the health of the gut microbiome, both of which have a healthy effect on the heart.

Jumbo oats can help control blood sugar levels

Last year, researchers reviewed 10 published papers on oats for a study in the Journal of Nutrition that looked at the effects on blood sugar control. They found that eating thick rolled, or jumbo oats 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 digest and absorb less-processed oats, says Marber. Rolled oats are better for blood sugar control than instant oats and you should always steer clear of so-called luxury porridges with chocolate and syrup added.

Oats can help you to lose weight

If you want to melt away extra inches, add oats in any form to your diet. “Oat beta-glucan fibre forms a gel in your stomach which means that the gastric emptying is slightly delayed which keeps people fuller for longer,” says Kirsten Jackson, a consultant gastroenterology dietitian. But that’s not all. According to Louisana State University nutritionists, eating oats also triggers the release of satiety hormones that help to regulate your appetite. Because foods with a low glycaemic index, like oats, cause less of a rise in blood sugar and insulin production, less sugar is available to be absorbed and converted to fat.

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Eating oats can boost your mood

In a groundbreaking paper from Australia, researchers recruited people with clinical depression, all of whom had a highly processed and sugar diet at the start, and asked half to switch to eating more wholegrains, vegetables, muesli and porridge while under the direction of a dietician and the other to receive social support from a researcher as a control. 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 to 8% of people in the control group.

“Gut health promotes brain health through what is known as the gut-brain axis,” says sports dietitian Anita Bean. “Eating a wholesome wholegrain diet is good for the gut and your mood.”

Choose your oats carefully

There’s a pecking order when selecting oats for their health benefits. Where possible, choose coarse, steel-cut oats, also called Irish or ‘pinhead’ oats which have been cut in half by large steel blades and are minimally processed. However, they take 15-20 minutes to cook, longer than regular rolled porridge oats, the most popular variety, which are steamed and ironed flat by a giant roller to retain nutrients.

Instant, microwaveable oats are the most processed variety, so they will be lower in fibre and contain slightly fewer nutrients. Being finely rolled to cook more quickly means that instant oats have a higher GI and watch out for added sugar or syrup, which causes more of a blood sugar spike.

Adding a handful of oatbran to your instant oats can lower the glycaemic response by as much as 20%, according to one study, but Marber says, “it’s best to stick with the least processed oat options that you can find”.