Just two days of oatmeal cut bad cholesterol by 10%

[brandonb]

Fiber is the ultimate nutritional power tool.

Not only does fiber reduce cardiovascular mortality by 26% (by cutting cholesterol), surprisingly enough, fiber even reduces your risk of cancer by 22%: https://www.empirical.health/blog/dietary-fiber-reduces-all-...

(Oatmeal is high in fiber, among other things, which I think is part of what's going on here.)

[davidmurdoch]

Oatmeal is extra special because of it has high amounts of beta glucan, a soluble fiber.

[EPWN3D]

I wonder, do overnight oats wind up processing away a lot of the benefits? Do steel-cut oats have more of an effect on cholesterol than rolled?

[happytoexplain]

Wait, how does fiber cut cholesterol?

The article is a little densely worded.

[canadiantim]

I'd bet that oatmeal helps cancer due to increased elimination from the GI system, like any fibre

[lanfeust6]

In related fashion, you might be interested in reading about the impact of soy protein.

[buzzerbetrayed]

Oh boy. Now we’re entering the fiber era. We’re just leaving the protein era. Before that it was the intermittent fasting era. Before that it was the keto era. The low fat era was probably a few before that.

I hear about fiber constantly all of the sudden. You might be right about it, but how do we know it’s different than. All the past nutrition tends?

[dtj1123]

I routinely used to eat an oat based breakfast, and would then feel as though my blood pressure and energy levels were seesawing around for the rest of the morning. Turns out I have celiac disease with sensitivity to the protein in oats.

Dropping this here in case anyone else has a mysterious and unpleasant reaction to oats.

[Sverigevader]

Wait, I don't understand. I thought oatmeal was gluten free, but because of where it's grown and processed, there's a lot of cross contamination with wheat. I buy gluten free oats because of this.

https://celiac.org/gluten-free-oats-whats-the-deal/

[ndsipa_pomu]

I'm somewhat gluten sensitive (tends to make my psoriasis flare up) but used to have gluten-free oats for breakfast. Then the porridge seemed to increase my uric acid levels, leading to gout attacks, so I've had to stop eating them (oats are usually classified as mid-level purine content and thus should be only eaten once or twice a week for those prone to gout).

[dataviz1000]

Steal-cut oatmeal made in Insta Pot is the best thing in the world. I do 2.5 to 1 ratio. It is important to not let the steam out. It takes about 30 minutes plus another 10 to cool. Set it and forget it. Add raisons and cinnamon at the end. Or, let freshly minced ginger steep with some orange zest.

[fumeux_fume]

I make it on the stove top. It also takes 30 minutes to cook and 10 to cool. My ratio of water to dry oatmeal is 3 to 1 by weight in grams and I mix in honey after it's done.

[3eb7988a1663]

I did this after it was first posted. My cholesterol is great, but it is a simple enough intervention, I mostly did it for the lols.

Not terribly difficult, you never feel hungry. The worst part was how sore my jaw felt from the excessive chewing of the bulk mass. Which is funny for something so mushy, but my instinct was to chew it a good amount. Also, it is a lot of fiber. Feel like the effect might just have to do with cleaning out every surface of my digestive tract.

[mrbombastic]

I did it as well, 2 days of oatmeal (plus some chicken and toppings) and then oatmeal most days just one meal. Didn’t expect much…my cholesterol dropped 25% over a period of 3 months. One data point, will do another 2 days and see in another 3 months.

[delichon]

Oatmeal reliably spikes my blood sugar. Not as much as many other carbs, but enough that I avoid it. Each time an insulin resistant person eats it, it causes a little more permanent damage.

Four out of ten US adults are insulin resistant.

I have no idea how to balance the blood sugar damage with the cholesterol damage.

[david-gpu]

Not all oatmeal has the same effect on blood sugar. Steel cut oats are absorbed more slowly than instant oats. Toppings on your oatmeal also affect blood glucose in non-linear ways, the same as any other combination of foods.

[nomel]

I would think the type and preparation would play a significant role. There's steel cut (which can be made soft or "chewy"), firmer "old fashioned", and the quick dissolving mush that is one-minute.

[roncesvalles]

psyllium husk. zero calorie fiber

[lanfeust6]

glycemic index of steel cut is low, whereas large-flake is medium-high, and instant oats are high. Though you have to account for load.

My approach is to have a modest amount and increase the nuts and chia mixed with it, alongside berries and yogurt.

[clumsysmurf]

Try oat groats, this will have the lowest GI. You can cook them like rice, even in a rice cooker, using the same technique ... for a firmer result use less water and cook for less time. You can start off with roughly 1:1 ratio of oat groats to water. I do .75 cups oat groats to 1.25 cups water.

[OutOfHere]

Use thicker oats, obviously. Also, add some ceylon cinnamon powder to it. Additionally, if you can tolerate it, also add ground fenugreek powder to it to further offset the absorption.

[jader201]

Previously (30 days ago, 355 points, 268 comments):

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46819809

[alun]

Oatmeal has become my favorite breakfast by far. It's delicious and never seems to never give me the "crash" that people describe with other carbs (probably due to it's low GI). Very easy to blend them into my protein shakes after a morning workout too.

[Fire-Dragon-DoL]

i eat an apple with a teaspoon of pistachio butter (sometimes two) for breakfast. If I am still hungry, I eat 150g of blueberries with some vegan organic protein powder (2 teaspoons) and cottage cheese.

How can I tell if oatmeal would have more fiber?

I also eat basically an entire romaine earth at lunch and cooked veggies at dinner.

Fiber is definitely the only things that makes me full without making me fat.

[heohk]

Is it the oatmeal itself or the glyphosate present in all oatmeal?

[lkbm]

This is interesting and useful, but it's worth noting that this is ~1200 Calories a day, so that's a lot of what's going on outside the LDL effect.

[marginalia_nu]

Yeah it's a quite well known result you often see rapid improvements across several health markers from just a few days of calorie restriction.

[bob1029]

I'd like to point out that not all oatmeal products have the same nutritional value. Quaker instant oats might as well be a box of crackers or other snacky food compared to original or steel cut variety.

[tim-tday]

My doctor had me on statins because I tested with high cholesterol. I switched to oatmeal for breakfast. Stopped statins tested again. Totally normal.

[Loughla]

I've eaten oatmeal for breakfast, have a heart healthy diet, and exercise regularly. My total cholesterol and especially LdL are always massively high.

My body hates me.

[ridiculous_leke]

What do you have for breakfast before that if I may ask?

[brianwawok]

Mmm oatmeal. Breakfast of champions. I usually do it for about 330 days a year. Take a month off every once in a while..

[WarOnPrivacy]

How do you take your oatmeal?

[davidmurdoch]

From what LDL-C or AboB level to what?

[joshribakoff]

This has been widely known in bodybuilding and powerlifting circles, people abusing performance enhancing drugs eat things like oats to mitigate the harmful effects of the drugs on their cholesterol, and regularly do blood work to monitor it and see that it is working.

[poltomo]

Supposedly, eating food with vitamin c before eating oatmeal improves iron absorption from the oatmeal.

[OutOfHere]

> Participants followed a calorie restricted plan made up almost entirely of oatmeal for 48 hours.

Oatmeal is great, but a calorie restricted diet made practically entirely of oatmeal isn't exactly a useful determinant.

[lanfeust6]

I consume these so often for breakfast that I've calibrated the "core" meal many times. Personally I think the optimal amount is less than you would think, to make room for other ingredient pairings like berries, nuts and fermented dairy.

It's not the laziest method but I like soaking them overnight. Without being too fussed about phytic acid in a balanced diet, soaking still improves digestibility and nutrient absorption.

[kkfx]

Honestly? It's advertising, not biology.

All starchy foods make cholesterol go up, while all animal proteins make it go down, since digesting them consumes LDL. People only campaign against this scientific evidence because there are so many of us in the world, too many, and there isn't enough animal protein for everyone, especially if you focus on economically profitable production instead of distributed subsistence production wherever possible.