Overview
- In a University of Bonn trial, participants consumed about 300 grams of oatmeal prepared with water three times daily for two days at roughly half their usual calories, leading to an average 10% drop in LDL, about 2 kg of weight loss, and slight blood-pressure reductions that persisted for six weeks after returning to normal diets.
- A parallel six-week approach that replaced one daily meal with roughly 80 grams of oats produced no measurable changes in LDL or total cholesterol.
- Researchers observed rises in microbially produced phenolic metabolites, particularly dihydroferulic and ferulic acids, which were associated with the cholesterol reductions.
- The study involved adults with metabolic syndrome and small sample sizes of 17 participants per arm, and the results were published in Nature Communications.
- Nutrition experts emphasize that oats’ beta‑glucan offers modest LDL-lowering benefits and advise using oats within broader heart‑healthy eating patterns rather than as a stand‑alone therapy.