Nutrition
Oat cuisine
by Jennifer Bowden
There are nutritional differences between rolled oats, oat bran and oatmeal.
Question: Could you please clarify the di fference, in production and food-analysis content, between rolled oats, oat bran and oatmeal?
Answer: When I was a child, I dreamed of magic porridge pots, as in the children’s book, and their endless supply of porridge to warm those winter
mornings. Porridge made from rolled oats, after all, is the winter breakfast for many New Zealanders. But as we don’t have magic porridge pots here, how do oats get to the breakfast table?
Harraway & Sons is New Zealand’s last remaining oat mill. The company uses oats grown between South Canterbury and Southland, including Central Otago,
to produce rolled, scotch and wholegrain oats for the retail market. Most, if not all, the other oats found on supermarket shelves are Australian grown and
processed.
When oats arrive at Harraway’s Dunedin mill, they are put through screens to remove woodchips and the like. The inedible husks are removed, and the company uses them to fuel its boilers.
The resulting oat groats are then roasted for 2-3 hours, a traditional process that enhances the oat fl avour (but is eschewed by most other millers). The roasted groats
are then cut 3-5 times, steam-cooked to destroy enzymes that cause rancidity, then rolled fl at to produce rolled oats.
Oatmeal is produced by milling or coarsely grinding rolled oats, producing a finer-textured version that is nutritionally similar.
Wholegrains, like rolled oats, are a rich source of dietary fibre, antioxidants, resistant starch, vitamins and folic acid.
That’s why nutritionists recommend wholegrain
and wholemeal varieties of breads, breakfast cereals,
pasta, crackers and rice over refined versions. When
wholegrains are refined, much of their bran and some of the germ is removed, resulting in losses of dietary
fibre, vitamin and minerals. The resulting refined white flours are nutritionally inferior but typically have a longer shelf life.
Oat bran differs from rolled oats and oatmeal. Basically, the oat groats are rolled more and sifted in order to separate the oat bran from the flour (or endosperm).
So the resulting oat bran contains more fibrous material than rolled oats: a half cup of oat bran contains 7.6g of fibre, whereas a half cup of rolled oats contains 4.2g.
Still, both oat varieties make a healthy contribution to our daily fibre requirements (men 30g a day, women 25g). Oat bran has slightly more B vitamins per serve than rolled oats, but both are useful sources. Oat bran, rolled oats and oatmeal also contain some potassium, calcium,
iron, zinc and selenium, although the fibre in oats limits the absorption of some of these minerals.
Nonetheless, oat’s fibre content has also made them famous. Consumption of oat fibre has been linked to lowered total and LDL (or bad) cholesterol levels and
a reduced risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). And although Food Standards Australia New Zealand considers evidence linking wholegrain intake to a reduced risk of coronary heart disease inconclusive,
the US Food and Drug Administration has a more optimistic view. The FDA allows health claims on certain oat products, suggesting that the soluble fibre in oats may contribute to a decreased heart disease risk.
A 2007 Cochrane Review provided a comprehensive and independent look at the relationship between oat consumption and CHD. The reviewers acknowledged
that many clinical trials have shown a link between oat consumption and lowered total and LDL cholesterol
levels, but noted these trials were “small, of short duration and many were commercially funded”. They recommended taking a cautious view on the evidence
linking oat consumption to lowered cholesterol levels and warned that none of these clinical trials showed a clear link between oat consumption and a reduced risk of heart disease.
Still, a nutritious, popular winter breakfast that may lower cholesterol levels is magical, indeed. So, whether you choose rolled oats, oatmeal or oat bran, they’re all
great options and packed with useful fibre.
Enjoy them in your porridge (just go easy on the sugar toppings), toasted in muesli, or in the occasional Anzac biscuit.
