Coronary Heart Disease And Dietary Fiber: How Do Oats Benefit Your Heart Health?

Diet, it is well-known, plays a huge role when it comes to treating and preventing heart disease. Healthy fats and vegetables are commonly touted as heart-healthy foods. One of the food types that can be beneficial for heart health that doesn’t get too much media coverage are oats.

International organizations, such as the European Society of Cardiology and the United States National Cholesterol Education Program, now recommend eating oats as part of a healthy diet to reduce the risk of heart disease. Furthermore, it has been two decades since the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) endorsed a claim that oatmeal and whole oats (such as oat brain or oat flour) are good for the heart.

What are oats composed of?

Oats are a great source of fiber, particularly a fiber known as beta-D-glucans or beta glucans. Depending on the variety of oat, beta glucans can constitute three to five percent of the content of oats. Let's take a quick peek at the amount of beta glucan found in different types of oats:

• Rolled oats, oat flakes, and wholemeal oat flour all contain approximately four percent beta glucan.
• Swedish oat fibers, due to their special manufacturing process, can cotain as much as six to 32 percent of beta-glucan.

What are beta glucans?

Beta glucans are a class of indigestible carbohydrates. In nature, these are commonly found in:

• Grain
• Barley
• Yeast
• Bacteria
• Algae
• Mushrooms

Beta glucans in oats are a type of naturally soluble fiber composed of several units of that have several different chemical bonds between them. It is a large molecule composed of 200,000 glucose units. The structure of the beta glucan is preserved in the Swedish Oat Fiber manufacturing process, which is why it has such a large concentration of beta glucans.

How much oat beta glucan should I consume?

Beta glucans are not listed on the ingredient list you'll see on your food. Therefore, it can be hard to figure out how much oatmeal to eat. This list can help you get a better idea of how much beta glucan there is in different formulations of oats:

• ½ cup of dry steel cut oats has four grams of beta glucan
• ½ cup of dry Quaker oat bran has three grams of beta glucan
• ½ cup of dry Old Fashioned Quaker Oats has two grams of beta glucan
• ½ cup of dry Quaker quick-cooking has two grams of beta glucan
• A packet of Quaker instant oatmeal has one gram of beta glucan
• A packet of designer oatmeal packets has one gram of beta glucan​

How are beta glucans beneficial for heart health?

Oats have taken on a healthy reputation because studies have shown that they can have several beneficial effects on peoples’ heart health:

• In 1997, a study showed that oat beta glucan is able to lower cholesterol levels, particularly in patients with metabolic syndrome (i.e. diabetes). Since then, several studies have confirmed this association. Essentially, beta glucans, once in your body, grab onto a compound called bile and force your body to excrete it. This causes your body to also excrete cholesterol, leading to a reduction in cholesterol levels.
• Beta glucans can help reduce blood sugar levels after eating (when they generally go up).
• Beta glucans have been shown to improve gut health by maintaining the population of intestinal bacteria.
• Oat consumption and weight loss together lower LDL cholesterol levels more than either oat consumption or weight loss alone. Thus, combining the two can really help preserve your heart health.
• In addition to lowering your LDL levels, oatmeal can actually improve the LDL profile of your body. For example, oatmeal can reduce the levels of small LDL cholesterol particles, which are actually riskier for your heart health than bigger LDL particles.
• Oatmeal can help reduce inflammation as it contains antioxidants that have anti-inflammatory properties. Inflammation plays a big role in heart disease and thus, eating oatmeal over a long period of time can help increase antioxidants levels in your body and reduce your risk of heart disease in the long run.

Oats are whole grains

Oatmeals are whole grains — and whole grains come with their own perks, including being a great source of dietary fiber. Consuming dietary fiber can help your heart health in many ways, including:

• Lowering your blood cholesterol levels, which is a risk factor for heart disease
• Lowering your risk of obesity
• Lowering your risk of type 2 diabetes, which is associated with heart disease
• Helping you lose weight, as fiber can make you feel more full and satisfied while consuming fewer calories.
• Providing nutrients such as Vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, Vitamin B9, iron, magnesium and selenium, all of which are important for the normal, healthy functioning of the body.