Can Oatmeal Reduce Cholesterol Levels?

Does oatmeal reduce cholesterol in our blood and if so how? Firstly, we are aware that we need to maintain a low cholesterol level for a healthy diet. And we also know the types of food that we have to eat, foods that have a high content of fiber. Research has shown that oatmeal helps with cholesterol levels.

There are many reasons to why the amount of cholesterol should concern you. A high level of cholesterol in your blood causes many health problems. These include thickening the arteries, which puts a pressure on the normal blood circulation. As a result, this affects the heart adversely leading to high blood pressure and other heart problems.

So you may be wondering how does oatmeal help the diet. Oatmeal is coarsely prepared oats which is used in many foods especially cereals. Other breakfast foods such as muesli and porridge also use oatmeal in their ingredients. It is a complex carbohydrate. This means that in the stomach, it slowly breaks down and releases sugar to the body. This slow and steady breakdown of sugars is very good for those who have diabetes.

Oatmeal has high fiber content. This is the part that helps in reducing cholesterol in your body. It is a soluble fiber that absorbs the water in the intestines becoming a viscous substance.

This substance gets in the way of the LDL cholesterol from being passed onto the bloodstream as it is absorbed by the soluble fiber. Eventually, like fiber this goes out as waste from the body.

A lot of studies have been carried out on the effects of a high fiber diet including oatmeal. The results are highly supportive of the effectiveness of the reduction in cholesterol levels even though the processes are not yet clearly understood by the scientific community.

If you are looking to reduce your cholesterol level or just to maintain a healthy diet, it is easy to increase your fiber intake by eating oatmeal. As mentioned, most breakfast foods already include it and a lot of baked products also use it as an ingredient.

Not all products that you find in the supermarket that has the word ‘oat’ or ‘oatmeal’ in it is actually healthy. This is because of the very low percentage of oats that are found in it, a good example are oatmeal cookies that consist mainly fat and sugar. Always check the fiber content on the back of the packaging.