Is Oatmeal Really That Healthy? - Ask a Nutritionist

Transcript:

Amy: Welcome to Dishing at Nutrition's midweek segment called “Ask a Nutritionist”. I am Amy Crum, a Registered and Licensed Dietitian, and on today's show, brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness, we will be answering a question we received from one of our Dishing Up Nutrition listeners. Today's question is about oatmeal.

The question from our listener is “Frequently for breakfast, I have non-instant Quaker Oats oatmeal with a high protein, low carb protein powder, almond milk, and cinnamon. I'm wondering with oatmeal having a higher carb count if it's as healthy as reported.”

This is a great question, and I hear questions about oatmeal from clients all of the time. For so long, oats were marketed as the breakfast you should eat for heart health. Today we'll talk about whether oats are a good breakfast choice for everyone, especially those concerned about keeping their blood sugar in a healthy range, which really should be all of us.

Where do oats come from?

First, let's talk about where oats come from. Oats are a seed from the oat plant and have a hull around them. There are multiple different types of oats that you can buy at the grocery. The oat groat is the least processed form, and they are the whole oat kernels without the hull. The oat groat has a lot of fiber, B vitamins and minerals.

It takes the longest to cook: about 45 to 60 minutes. Next we have steel cut oats. They are groats that have been chopped into small pieces. Using steel, hence the name steel cut oats. So they're minimally processed, just cut up and they usually take about 20 to 30 minutes to cook.

Rolled oats or old fashioned oats are what we typically think of when we think of oatmeal. And now to make rolled oats, they steam that oat groat and roll it out, which gives you that flat and rolled oat. This makes them quicker to cook and softer in texture. They usually take about five to 10 minutes to cook. Next we have quick oats, which are the oats that take the rolled out and steam it longer, and then flatten it even thinner than the rolled out.

So the cooking time is reduced even further. They cook in about one to three minutes, and then last we have instant oats. They are the most processed oat. They are precooked and finely chopped for the fastest preparation, and they have added flavors, preservatives, and sweeteners most of the time. Think the packets of oatmeal you put in the microwave that are flavored with brown sugar or strawberry, and they usually take about one to two minutes to cook.

While we're talking about oats, I will briefly mention oat milk, which is made by combining oats and water, and then mixing it into a fine consistency along with enzymes to break that oat starch down. Then it’s separated out and what's left is a liquid oat milk.

So you can see from those descriptions, we start out with an unprocessed oat groat, and then as we go down the list, they become more treated and we end up with the most processed oat being the instant oat, and then the oat milk. The more processed the oat is, the more quickly it can potentially raise your blood sugar because your body takes less time to digest it.

The type of oatmeal eaten will determine how much blood sugar spike results

So the type of oatmeal you eat can impact how much of a blood sugar spike you'll get after eating it. An instant oat that is precooked and finely milled will raise your blood sugar more rapidly than a less processed oat, like steel cut oats. If you're eating a flavored instant oatmeal, it will be higher in carbs and sugar and won't have protein or fat along with it.

A packet of flavored instant oatmeal contains about 30 grams of carbohydrates in it, whereas an equivalent amount of plain oats has 19 grams of carbs. Even better would be steel cut oats because they're just small pieces of that oat groat and are minimally processed.

The steel cut oat has the most fiber in it, which can slow the absorption of carbohydrates and allow for a slower rise in blood sugar levels. Beta glucan is the soluble fiber that is in oats and can be helpful for heart health, can be anti-inflammatory and can be good for gut health. The less processed the oat, the more beta glucan it will contain.

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What’s a common issue with oatmeal for breakfast? (added sugar onto an already high carbohydrate food)

One issue that often comes up with oatmeal for breakfast is that people aren't just eating plain oats. Often oatmeal comes along with brown sugar, raisins, maybe honey or maple syrup. So we take a food that is high in carbohydrate like oatmeal, and then add even more carbohydrate. So the result is usually a big spike in blood sugar.

Oatmeal often creates a high rise in blood sugar

I will say in practice now that more people are checking their blood sugar either with a glucometer or a continuous glucose monitor, I have seen lots of clients with some pretty big rises in their blood sugar from eating just a plain bowl of oatmeal. If you do eat a bowl of oatmeal, pay attention to how you feel after you eat.

Are you hungry within an hour or two? Do you feel like your energy is dipping within an hour or two of eating? Are your sugar and carb cravings worse for the rest of the day? These might be signs that oatmeal is affecting your blood sugar negatively. People who have insulin resistance, which is a condition where your body cells are less responsive to insulin, may not be able to handle the higher amounts of carbohydrates that oatmeal is providing.

What’s another issue with oats? (glyphosate is commonly used)

Another issue with oats is what you're getting that's not on the food label. Glyphosate is a weed killer that can be used on oats before they're harvested to dry them out. The environmental working group had found that levels of glyphosate were at levels that exceeded the amount safe to consume in 2018 studies.

When the EWG tested oats and oat products again in 2022, they found there were still traces of glyphosate in oat products, but that it was dropping since the previous studies. With that in mind, if possible, I would opt for organic oats so you can avoid any trace of pesticide residue.

Be aware: oats can contain gluten

Another thing to be on the lookout for is gluten in oats. Oats are naturally gluten-free, but they're grown, processed and transported along with wheat, barley, and rye, which do contain gluten and can lead to cross-contamination. If you have any type of gluten intolerance, I would look for oats that are labeled gluten-free. They'll be kept away from other gluten containing grains.

Research on oatmeal

As I was looking through studies on oatmeal, it was interesting to see that there are a lot of studies talking about how oatmeal can reduce your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. But as I read them, often the studies compared people eating oatmeal to people eating cereal, white bread or rice; high carb foods and not the balanced breakfast we are recommending at Nutritional Weight & Wellness.

I did find one study from Nutrients Journal in 2017 that compared an oatmeal breakfast to an egg breakfast. It compared eating two eggs per day to eating an oatmeal breakfast, and the results showed that eating eggs instead of oatmeal didn't alter the participant's cardiovascular disease risk and kept them full longer.

This was shown by the participant self reports of less hunger after eating an end breakfast, and also blood work that showed less ghrelin circulating in the participants who ate eggs. Ghrelin is a hormone that stimulates appetite. The more you have, the hungrier you feel. So those who ate eggs instead of the oatmeal had less ghrelin, and thus we're more satisfied than those who ate oatmeal.

Another study from Harvard Medicine Magazine compared instant oatmeal, steel cut oatmeal, and an omelet for breakfast, and found that the omelet group ate fewer calories overall and had better blood sugar control. The study involved obese boys who were split into three breakfast groups. The instant oatmeal group ate significantly more calories throughout the day, and their blood tests showed higher levels of insulin, blood sugar, blood fats, and adrenaline.

The study showed that meals with a higher glycemic index, like instant oatmeal can trigger overeating, and that the oatmeal group experienced blood sugar spikes in crashes that led to more hunger and more calories consumed.

Be mindful of portion size + how to optimally balance blood sugar when it comes to oatmeal

All that to be said as a dietitian, what do I recommend when it comes to oatmeal? I think portion size is going to be one of the most important things to pay attention to when it comes to eating oatmeal. A serving of oatmeal should be no more than half a cup after it's cooked. The next important thing is to balance the oats with some protein and fat to help minimize that blood sugar spike.

There are a few ways to do this. Maybe you have some eggs, and then on the side you have a small serving of oatmeal that has nuts or seeds on top. You're going to have protein from the eggs, carbohydrate from the half a cup of oats and fat from the nuts or seeds. This will help maintain blood sugar balance.

I also like the listener's idea of adding protein powder to her oatmeal. This is going to ensure you're getting enough protein in your breakfast. And also help slow the rise in blood sugar because you're not just eating a plain carb by itself.

I would also add some fat in there. Depending on the type of almond milk, you might not be getting enough extra good fat in there. So to help balance the meal, a natural peanut butter could be one way to add some good fat. Another option could be chia seeds, hemp hearts, ground flax, shredded coconut or heavy cream.

Ways to get in plenty of fiber

One of the reasons a lot of people eat oatmeal is to get in the fiber. Some other good ways to eat more fiber in your day are to include nuts and seeds, chia and ground, flax, and of course, more vegetables. This will help you get in even more fiber than a serving of oats without that blood sugar spike.

Conclusion

So in conclusion, I wouldn't recommend eating oatmeal every day for breakfast due to its impact it can have on blood sugar, but I do think including oatmeal in its least processed forms, like half a cup of cooked steel oats, or rolled old fashioned oats, along with a balance of protein and fat to your breakfast rotation every once in a while, can be a good option for a lot of people.

For those who are more insulin resistant, I would probably recommend avoiding oatmeal. And if you're looking to lose weight, eating oatmeal on a regular basis, even in balance with protein and fat, may slow weight loss down. If you're looking for different ideas of what to eat for breakfast in the place of oatmeal, I would highly recommend taking a listen to the “Ask a Nutritionist” podcast from May of 2023 breakfast ideas where Britni suggested a lot of great ideas like egg bakes, veggie scrambles, protein smoothies, and breakfast hashes to get some new breakfast ideas.

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