Years of promoting oats’ wonderful healthy qualities doesn’t mean everyone knows all about it, says Agriculture Canada research scientist Nancy Ames.
Even lots of doctors and dietitians don’t realize oats have been proven to lower cholesterol and probably have other health-promoting characteristics, she told the Prairie Oat Growers convention in Winnipeg Dec. 5.
“Most of them don’t even know about the health claim,” Ames said.
It means the oat industry, from farmers to food processors, needs to inform key front line health information providers about what has already been proven about oats.
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“I think we’ve got a new group to add into our value chain. I think we’ve missed this,” said Ames.
Oats are famous inside the food ingredients community for being the first food to receive a U.S. Food and Drug Administration health claim, which allows oatmeal processors to say that their product can lower cholesterol.
Scientists think other factors also make oats healthful when included in human diets. Speakers at the conference said cooked oats seem to be ideal, both on a molecular level and in their consistency.
Ames said oats’ beta glucan-to-available carbohydrate ratio seems to be important, as does its “viscosity,” or stickiness.
Baby boomers often turn to their doctors and listen to dietitians when deciding how to change their diets late in life to make them more healthy.
As a result, Ames said encouraging doctors to recommend oats should increase demand for oat-based products.
However, she said many doctors don’t realize what scientists know about oats, which must be fixed.
Ames said oats promoters also need to get their information into social media and mass media because that’s where much of the public obtains its advice on health.
