A really good little video here from Dr. William Davis, the author of wheat belly and super gut. Oats & Oatmeal- is it good for you? Here’s the low down. https://t.co/n826KydGuw
— Wejolyn 🇺🇸 (@Wejolyn) April 2, 2025
Oats are a rich source of beta-glucan, a source of soluble fiber. It's this feature that allows them to be called "heart healthy." that upon consumption does indeed reduce "total" and LDL cholesterol.
And while I poo-poo those kinds of crude measurements, that is true that they can be modestly beneficial.
So what's the problem? Oats like all other grains are seeds of grasses. They're all seeds of grasses. By definition, that's what grains are. They all share a carbohydrate called Amylopectin A. Amylopectin A is the super carbohydrate of grain. I call it a super carbohydrate because the Amylopectin A of grains yields rise in blood sugar even worse than table sugar. That's because we have an enzyme called amylase in our saliva and in our stomachs that's very efficient at ingesting amylopectin A, and that explains why, for instance, two slices of whole wheat bread raises blood sugar higher than 6 tsp of table sugar. The same kind of phenomenon applies to oats because it's rich in Amylopectin A.
There are other forms of Amylopectin. Beans, legumes, for instance, are rich in Amylopectin C, which is not efficiently digested. It's inefficiently digested. It does not raise blood sugar very much, unless you consume a lot. But the Amylopectin A of grains, the seeds of grasses, is very efficiently digested and yields a sharp and substantial rise in blood sugar. So if you ate oatmeal, let's say one cup of uncooked oatmeal or slow cooked or no added sugar, no sweeteners, no fruit nothing just plain oatmeal, a typical blood sugar response in a non-diabetic person would be a rise of blood pressure, say, from 90 or 100 to 150 to 180 mg per deciliter; in other words,very high.
02:11. What are the consequences of that? Whenever blood sugar ranges that high, it does all sorts of things. It provokes insulin resistance. If it's repeated over time, it causes growth of visceral fat, that is tummy fat, and weight gain, and it induces something called glycation. Glycation is irreversible glucose modification of proteins. So if you glycate the proteins in the lenses of your eyes, you get cataracts over time. If you glycate the cartilage cells and proteins in your knees and hips, you get brittle cartilage that leads to arthritis and bone-on-bone arthritis. If you glycate LDL particles, you get heart disease. If you glycate the skin, you get skin thinning, age spots, and accelerated skin aging. So glycation is a very, very important process to know about.
And how do you cause glycation and endogenous glycation? By having high glucose every time blood glucose ranges above 100 you glycate more and more and more so that blood sugar of 150 to 180 in a diabetic after consuming oatmeal is not a good idea. If you have insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, diabetes, a typical blood sugar could be 200 to 350, sometimes higher, sky high blood sugars because of the Amylopectin A. That one cup of uncooked oatmeal that you slow cooked yields about 46 grams net carbs which is an awful lot. You know, my Wheat Belly and Undoctored Programs, we restrict ourselves to no more than 15 grams net carbs per meal because that's the level at which there's little to no rise in blood sugar, and we don't generate insulin resistance. We have virtually no acceleration of glycation, but that one cup of oatmeal yields 46 grams net carbs. Now people often add slices of bananas, right, berries, some sweeteners, milk, now you're talking about 65, 70, 80, 90 net carbs, and all those adverse effects are further amplified. Oats have also been associated provocation of type 1 diabetes those data are observational, and thereby not real solid. But there is better evidence to show us that the gliadin protein of wheat and Zein protein of corn are powerful provokers of the process that leads to type 1 diabetes in kids. So even though the data are still limited with oats and observational, it's so consistent with what we know with related proteins, and by the way, those proteins are called Prolamin protein. The avenin proteins of Oats the glaidin proteins of wheat sequin protein of rye Zein of corn these are all called prolamine proteins and they are called that because they're rich in the amino acid, Proline. And amino acid sequences that include Proline are often not well digested by the enzymes we have in our digestive tracts. That's part of the reason why we get autoimmune effects from consumption of the seeds of grasses. Oats are rich in fungal mycotoxins this has been a perennial problem with oats that they seem to be a good place to grow fungi that's why mushroom Farmers often grow them in oats the oatmeal you buy the oats you buy are often contaminated by fungal mycotoxins at sometimes toxic levels and these are carcinogenic and other toxic properties so oats are source a common source of fungal mycotoxins. The avenin protein of oats can mimic the gliadin protein of wheat and reigniting celiac disease this is similar in to the way that the Zein protein of corn can reignite celiac disease. People with celiac disease are told to be gluten-free and to eat gluten-free foods. One of the most common ingredients in gluten-free foods is cornstarch. Now that's the starch of corn, not the protein, but the corn starch is often contaminated with the Zein proteins. So all those products made with gluten-free ingredients, like cornstarch, can also reignite the celiac disease. Likewise, the avenin protein of oats can reignite celiac disease in some people with celiac disease. Oats also, like many other grains, or seeds of grasses, contain something called phytates. And phytates are very good at binding positively charged minerals like iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium, copper, manganese, and when the phytates of grains, say from a bowl of oatmeal, or a sandwich made with two slices of whole wheat bread, the phytates bind those positively charged minerals, most of them, and you pass it out in the toilet. That's why, for instance, there's lots and lots of iron deficiency anemia in people who consume a lot of grains. That's why children can get impaired immunity because they consume a lot of grains that they become zinc deficient; that impairs your immune response. That's why a lot of people get skin rashes from consuming grains because it binds all the zinc. So multiple nutritional deficiencies developed from the consumption of Oats as they do with other grains.
07:15. Lastly oats can be a common source of allergy the allergy can show up as asthma it can show up as gastrointestinal upset it can show up as skin rashes now skin rashes can occur from oral consumption or from topical application of of creams and other products that contain oats it's very common in children for instance so oats do have something good in them the better glucan soluble fiber unfortunately it comes with two much bad baggage, like the Amylopectin A that raises blood sugar and Insulin; the fungal mycotoxins; provocation of the celiac disease; phytates; and others. This is very common. There's no way to disable the adverse effects of seeds of grasses because seeds of grasses, if you ran into a field and you and your family were starving, and you ran into a field of grass, would you say "Hallelujah! We eat well tonight!" Probably not because humans don't view grass as food. It's testimony to the cleverness of man ancient humans who managed just 10,000 years ago to figure out a way to isolate the sea of each grass blade dry it pulverize it and grind it into a flower or use it to ferment things like beer and bread so this is a testimony to the cleverness of humans but it was a critical error to consume something that kept you alive another week 4 weeks or months but impaired long-term health and that's true for all Seas of grasses, including oats.
