I think the main thing is to understand why oatmeal works: soluble fiber and the gut bacteria feeding on the carbs.
That can be achieved within many other diets too. I wish they were more specific in saying what's special about oats, if anything.
I also get upset when I see a ton of junk options at the grocery store. They are talking about plain cut oats and whole fresh fruit, but based on the way shelves are stocked I imagine a majority of people get the kind with all the added sugar. You might as well be eating honey smacks at that point. Yogurt has the same problem at the store.
That’s nothing. You should have seen me on my Halo Top ice cream only diet. One point of the ice cream, nothing else. Lost way more weight than these losers. Halo Top, guys, it’s the key.
It is a shame that most people's associations with oatmeal is either "bland" or "I've added in so much sugar that I may as well ignore the benefits of oats entirely".
Why no fruits? I eat oatmeal with milk, an apple and some flaxseed each morning. I don't care about the taste but I add the apple because of vitamins. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
1. When someone consumes fat, bile is released into the gut.
2. Oatmeal (and other soluble fibers like psyllium husk) capture this bile and it is excreted in stool.
3. In order to create the bile, the liver needs LDL. Because the LDL it used to create the bile was lost when it was captured, it exposes more LDL receptors and pulls LDL out of the bloodstream, thereby lowering LDL levels.
It seems to me that in order to maximize the effectiveness of this LDL-lowering approach, one must not simply consume psyllium or oatmeal, but rather consume them in conjunction with fat. Not saturated fat, obviously, which raises LDL, but perhaps unsaturated or polyunsaturated fats. My expectation is that this would trigger the bile secretion required in order to actually sequester it.
It's well known that an oatmeal diet lowers cholesterol (the article itself cites a 1907 'oat cure' in its intro). The new finding here is insight into the exact mechanism- a short-term, high-dose oatmeal diet (300g/day for two days) had significantly greater LDL-lowering effect than a medium-term, moderate-dose oatmeal diet (80g/day for six weeks), and they associated the difference with increases in several plasma phenolic compounds triggered by specific changes in the gut microbiome.
I'm left wondering what happens if you feed people 300g/day of barley, shredded wheat, brown rice, or any other wholegrain. For that matter, what happens if you do the same thing with legumes?
The experiment halved energy intake at minimum and still provided 30+ grams of fibre then kept doing it until the gut emptied, which I reckon most people would expect to nuke and replace the gut microbiome, but did oatmeal have any specific advantage?
I fixed my high cholesterol problem with oats...
Months ago I replaced my daily dinner with a mix of oats + banana + protein powder + 1 tbsp olive oil + peanut butter + flaxseeds + oat milk - all mixed in a blender.
My bad cholesterol (LDL levels) tanked from 160 mg/dL to 91 mg/dL. My daily dinners before that were not even that unhealthy. Dropping sat fat intake had nowhere near that much effect for me.
For me and I assume for many others, lack soluble fibers are the root cause of high LDL levels.
I've been doing something similar for breakfast, one cup of oatmeal + one cup of water and about two tablespoons of chia seeds, microwave for 2 minutes. Add a banana and some honey, top it with whole roasted almonds and some raspberries. It has been doing wonders for my digestion. I'll have to try to add olive oil as well.
My LDL was 150 last time I checked. I wonder what it is now since I've been doing this meal several times a week.
Interesting. I have almost the same smoothie every morning minus the banana and oats. Instead I use psyllium husks for fibre.
My cholesterol has been in range for years despite eating almost exclusively saturated fat since I'm in the keto camp. Just watched an interesting episode by Peter Attia and Layne Norton on seed oils which might shift my view on PUFAs a bit.
While peanut butter does contain some useful nutrients, there are much better choices out there in case someone would like to further improve/optimize their nutrition. Many topics in nutrition can be quite debatable but IMHO most other nuts outperform peanuts (which aren't even nuts) in many ways. Furthermore I'd say peanuts aren't that useful as a protein source in this situation given that protein powder is already being added.
I recently discovered the world of nut butters, and usually choose them over whole nuts due to easier digestibility and nutrient availability. Unless I'm eating macadamia nuts which already feel quite easy on the gut.
Likewise i switched my breakfast to oats around 3 years ago when my cholesterol was above the recommended high threshold and its been constantly in the higher end of the accetable range ever since. I would like it to be lower, but its much better than it used to be.
Blending reduces some of the effects of including soluble fibres - your stomach empties faster, blood sugar can spike more quickly (especially with fruit smoothies), and you lose some of the "scrubbing" action in the intestines.
So it appears oat fibers are just quite effective natural bile acid sequestrants[1]. That makes me wonder why don't we use this class of locally-acting compounds as first line cholesterol lowering treatment, instead going straight for the "bazooka" of systemic acting statins that have lots of side-effects, even affecting personality[2].
• half of 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 banana
• 1 scoop soy or pea protein powder
• 2 tablespoon flax seeds (make sure to buy whole and grind them, in my case I don't need to grind them separately the blender chops them while doing the shake)
• 2 tablespoon peanut butter (100% peanut no added oil)
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• unsweetened oat or soy milk
• I add some water if it's too thick
I blend the oats and the flax seeds first, then add the rest, blend again for 10 secs, boom - easy. You may want to adjust peanut butter quantity depending on whether you’re trying to lose, maintain or gain weight. 2 tbsp is me trying to maintain weight as I easily lose weight.
Soluble fiber in general helps lower LDL, beans and lentils work well too. One caution for diabetics, this meal could be pretty high in carbs for a single sitting depending on portions.
you say "fixed" but have you asked "why" you think your cholesterol is broken and needs "fixed"?? why is your cholesterol broken? why is higher cholesterol numbers strictly associated with longer life? why is lower cholesterol numbers strictly associated with premature death? why do we think higher cholesterol numbers are bad when the worldwide data clearly shows higher numbers are healthier?
Breakfast I don’t eat. Lunch I typically eat outside, dinner after work I’m lazy to cook so replacing by a shake was perfect! 15 min all in for preparation, consumption, cleaning.
If switching to oatmeal, go with the unflavored raw oats. It's not bad once a person gets used to it. Substituting milk with water is also perfectly fine.
Eating a low sugar breakfast does feel pretty healthy.
I much prefer the texture of porridge made in a pan on the stove to that made in the microwave. The stirring releases the starches from the oats.
I use rolled oats and cook with just salt and water which avoids the risk of the milk burning if you are inattentive, then add milk or yoghurt (and raw brown sugar) to my bowl.
Oatmeal is amazing at stabilizing blood sugar levels. It's like adding inertia to the power grid.
If you are eating any kind of snack cracker or refined wheat product, I would suggest replacing with oats and then reporting back on results after one week.
I think the beneficial effects are strong enough to completely offset the impact of things like occasional bowl of ice cream and package of nerds gummy clusters. This is what gets me to power through. If there wasn't some kind of strong upside no one would be eating this stuff willingly.
The trial was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the German Diabetes Association (DDG), the German Research Foundation (DFG), the German Cereal Processing, Milling and Starch Industries’ Association (VGMS), and RASO Naturprodukte."
I'd be quite suspicious of this study for this reason alone.
"They also lost two kilos in weight on average and their blood pressure fell slightly."
Two kilos in two days?
Edit: Oatmeal is great. I have some most mornings, either as porridge or letting it soak for a bit in "viscous mesophilic fermented milk", as Wikipedia suggests it can be called in english. Lots of starch but it takes a while for it to sugar the blood, and some fiber and protein.
I prefer soybeans. They have more fiber (including more soluble fiber), and they have more protein.
I realized this when tracking micronutrients with an app (tracking every gram I put into my body), and realized my 600 calorie steel-cut-oats breakfast was often outdone by soybeans I'd eat later in the day. The soybeans had more fiber.
And I think they're easier to eat. It's pretty boring, but I microwave a bowl of frozen soybeans and then just eat them plain. They're clean, you could eat them with your fingers without causing a mess (I use a spoon though), and their cleanliness means I'm comfortable having a bowl next to me at the computer or wherever; if they spill I would just pick them up with my fingers and that's it.
Try assuming that the target audience for this research is clinicians and nutritionists working with general population patients - particularly patients who really need cholesterol-reducing interventions. The medical system has limited resources; patients have limited attention spans and compliance curves. The patient may be in your ER or hospital after a medical incident, or in your clinic after a bad test result. If the hospital kitchen, a family member, or the patient himself can get through two days of this relatively easy oatmeal diet, the research say that his short-term and intermediate-term numbers should (X fingers) improve by [details]. If, two real-world days later, both a follow-up cholesterol test and (hopefully) the patient's daily symptoms and perception of his health are greatly improved - that's a clear win, both for him and for the medical system. And (hopefully) the patient's perception of the medical system - because high cholesterol is a chronic health problem, and you need him to readily seek care, show up for appointments, and comply with prescribed treatments.
I was curious what the implementation looked like:
> In the short-term intervention study, participants assigned to the oat group (OG) consumed three oat meals daily for two days instead of their habitual Western diet. Each oat meal comprised 100 × g of rolled oat flakes (Demeterhof Schwab GmbH & Co. KG, Windsbach, Germany) boiled in water. To ascertain potential long-term effects, the two-day intervention period was followed by a six-week follow-up period during which the participants returned to their habitual diet without oats. Subjects assigned to the control group (CG) consumed three standardized control meals without oats on each intervention day, which were macronutrient-adapted to the OG, instead of their habitual Western diet.
> In the six-week intervention study, participants in the oat group (OG6w) replaced one habitual meal per day with an oatmeal comprising 80 × g of rolled oat flakes (Demeterhof Schwab GmbH & Co. KG), while maintaining their habitual Western diet. Participants in the corresponding control group (CG6w) maintained their habitual Western diet and remained abstinent from oats during the six-week study period according to the inclusion criteria.
This is pretty remarkable:
> Since cholesterol levels tended to remain below baseline during the six-week, oat-free follow-up period, persistent effects on lipid metabolism might be assumed (Fig. 3d). This assumption is further supported by the high compliance observed during the follow-up period, as all participants abstained from oat consumption and returned to their habitual Western diet, with no significant differences compared to their pre-study dietary patterns (Supplementary Data 2). Thus, our results indicate clearly that a high-dose oat diet improves lipid metabolism by decreasing serum TC and LDL-C levels, even after two days, which is consistent with the known cholesterol-lowering effect of oats. In addition, beneficial effects on anthropometrics and glucose metabolism were observed within each diet group (Supplementary Data 2), which we attribute to the diet-related calorie restriction.
I gotta say though, 100 grams of oats (three times a day) is a lot. That's over a cup (dry). A typical serving is less than half that (40 grams dry).
72 comments
[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 65.1 ms ] threadThat can be achieved within many other diets too. I wish they were more specific in saying what's special about oats, if anything.
I also get upset when I see a ton of junk options at the grocery store. They are talking about plain cut oats and whole fresh fruit, but based on the way shelves are stocked I imagine a majority of people get the kind with all the added sugar. You might as well be eating honey smacks at that point. Yogurt has the same problem at the store.
I don't see how. Adding sugar doesn't remove the fiber.
Oatmeal and milk, nothing more. No fruit no nuts no sugar no honey no sprinkles of whatever. Perfect.
It is a shame that most people's associations with oatmeal is either "bland" or "I've added in so much sugar that I may as well ignore the benefits of oats entirely".
But it's your bowl of oatmeal, do what you want with it. Otherwise, what was that whole punk thing for, really?
1. When someone consumes fat, bile is released into the gut.
2. Oatmeal (and other soluble fibers like psyllium husk) capture this bile and it is excreted in stool.
3. In order to create the bile, the liver needs LDL. Because the LDL it used to create the bile was lost when it was captured, it exposes more LDL receptors and pulls LDL out of the bloodstream, thereby lowering LDL levels.
It seems to me that in order to maximize the effectiveness of this LDL-lowering approach, one must not simply consume psyllium or oatmeal, but rather consume them in conjunction with fat. Not saturated fat, obviously, which raises LDL, but perhaps unsaturated or polyunsaturated fats. My expectation is that this would trigger the bile secretion required in order to actually sequester it.
I’m genuinely curious. I have a vested interest in this.
Indeed they suggest that the difference may be due to changes in gut microbiome caused by oatmeal.
The experiment halved energy intake at minimum and still provided 30+ grams of fibre then kept doing it until the gut emptied, which I reckon most people would expect to nuke and replace the gut microbiome, but did oatmeal have any specific advantage?
My cholesterol has been in range for years despite eating almost exclusively saturated fat since I'm in the keto camp. Just watched an interesting episode by Peter Attia and Layne Norton on seed oils which might shift my view on PUFAs a bit.
Thoughts?
While peanut butter does contain some useful nutrients, there are much better choices out there in case someone would like to further improve/optimize their nutrition. Many topics in nutrition can be quite debatable but IMHO most other nuts outperform peanuts (which aren't even nuts) in many ways. Furthermore I'd say peanuts aren't that useful as a protein source in this situation given that protein powder is already being added.
I recently discovered the world of nut butters, and usually choose them over whole nuts due to easier digestibility and nutrient availability. Unless I'm eating macadamia nuts which already feel quite easy on the gut.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bile_acid_sequestrant
[2] https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200108-the-medications-...
I blend the oats and the flax seeds first, then add the rest, blend again for 10 secs, boom - easy. You may want to adjust peanut butter quantity depending on whether you’re trying to lose, maintain or gain weight. 2 tbsp is me trying to maintain weight as I easily lose weight.
Any particular reason for changing your dinner and not BF or lunch?
Eating a low sugar breakfast does feel pretty healthy.
I use rolled oats and cook with just salt and water which avoids the risk of the milk burning if you are inattentive, then add milk or yoghurt (and raw brown sugar) to my bowl.
If you are eating any kind of snack cracker or refined wheat product, I would suggest replacing with oats and then reporting back on results after one week.
I think the beneficial effects are strong enough to completely offset the impact of things like occasional bowl of ice cream and package of nerds gummy clusters. This is what gets me to power through. If there wasn't some kind of strong upside no one would be eating this stuff willingly.
The trial was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the German Diabetes Association (DDG), the German Research Foundation (DFG), the German Cereal Processing, Milling and Starch Industries’ Association (VGMS), and RASO Naturprodukte."
I'd be quite suspicious of this study for this reason alone.
"They also lost two kilos in weight on average and their blood pressure fell slightly."
Two kilos in two days?
Edit: Oatmeal is great. I have some most mornings, either as porridge or letting it soak for a bit in "viscous mesophilic fermented milk", as Wikipedia suggests it can be called in english. Lots of starch but it takes a while for it to sugar the blood, and some fiber and protein.
I tried to get into rolled or cut but the prep time was hard to keep up with.
I realized this when tracking micronutrients with an app (tracking every gram I put into my body), and realized my 600 calorie steel-cut-oats breakfast was often outdone by soybeans I'd eat later in the day. The soybeans had more fiber.
And I think they're easier to eat. It's pretty boring, but I microwave a bowl of frozen soybeans and then just eat them plain. They're clean, you could eat them with your fingers without causing a mess (I use a spoon though), and their cleanliness means I'm comfortable having a bowl next to me at the computer or wherever; if they spill I would just pick them up with my fingers and that's it.
Breakfast: overnight oats with milk (half and half) and a bit of yoghurt and a banana mashed in.
Lunch: Oatcakes with tahini/hummus and a salad??
Dinner: Skirlie with spinach and a couple of poached eggs on top. Along with some roast carrots/courgette/aubergine.
The eggs would be outside the OA diet I suppose. I think I might try this.
Try assuming that the target audience for this research is clinicians and nutritionists working with general population patients - particularly patients who really need cholesterol-reducing interventions. The medical system has limited resources; patients have limited attention spans and compliance curves. The patient may be in your ER or hospital after a medical incident, or in your clinic after a bad test result. If the hospital kitchen, a family member, or the patient himself can get through two days of this relatively easy oatmeal diet, the research say that his short-term and intermediate-term numbers should (X fingers) improve by [details]. If, two real-world days later, both a follow-up cholesterol test and (hopefully) the patient's daily symptoms and perception of his health are greatly improved - that's a clear win, both for him and for the medical system. And (hopefully) the patient's perception of the medical system - because high cholesterol is a chronic health problem, and you need him to readily seek care, show up for appointments, and comply with prescribed treatments.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-68303-9
I was curious what the implementation looked like:
> In the short-term intervention study, participants assigned to the oat group (OG) consumed three oat meals daily for two days instead of their habitual Western diet. Each oat meal comprised 100 × g of rolled oat flakes (Demeterhof Schwab GmbH & Co. KG, Windsbach, Germany) boiled in water. To ascertain potential long-term effects, the two-day intervention period was followed by a six-week follow-up period during which the participants returned to their habitual diet without oats. Subjects assigned to the control group (CG) consumed three standardized control meals without oats on each intervention day, which were macronutrient-adapted to the OG, instead of their habitual Western diet.
> In the six-week intervention study, participants in the oat group (OG6w) replaced one habitual meal per day with an oatmeal comprising 80 × g of rolled oat flakes (Demeterhof Schwab GmbH & Co. KG), while maintaining their habitual Western diet. Participants in the corresponding control group (CG6w) maintained their habitual Western diet and remained abstinent from oats during the six-week study period according to the inclusion criteria.
This is pretty remarkable:
> Since cholesterol levels tended to remain below baseline during the six-week, oat-free follow-up period, persistent effects on lipid metabolism might be assumed (Fig. 3d). This assumption is further supported by the high compliance observed during the follow-up period, as all participants abstained from oat consumption and returned to their habitual Western diet, with no significant differences compared to their pre-study dietary patterns (Supplementary Data 2). Thus, our results indicate clearly that a high-dose oat diet improves lipid metabolism by decreasing serum TC and LDL-C levels, even after two days, which is consistent with the known cholesterol-lowering effect of oats. In addition, beneficial effects on anthropometrics and glucose metabolism were observed within each diet group (Supplementary Data 2), which we attribute to the diet-related calorie restriction.
I gotta say though, 100 grams of oats (three times a day) is a lot. That's over a cup (dry). A typical serving is less than half that (40 grams dry).