CHEM 181 Chapter : woc 17- oats and soluble fibre.docx

• School: McGill University
• Department: Chemistry
• Course: CHEM 181
• Professor: David Harpp

Document Summary

Oats have a high satiety value; meaning that they take longer to digest and keep you feeling full longer. Oats also scrub the bowels : the contain both soluble and insoluble fibre. Fibre is the structural part of plants, grains, fruits and vegetables that cannot be broken down by enzymes in our digestive tract and therefore cannot provide nutrition (it goes right through you). There are two types of fibre: soluble and insoluble. But it is beta-glucan (the soluble fibre in oats) that is causing quite a stir. Studies show that consuming oats regularly can lower blood cholesterol, reduce high blood pressure, keep our arteries healthy and help control diabetes: this is not new information; re: oat bran craze. Since these compounds are made in the body from cholesterol, their removal in the digestive tract forces more to be synthesized. The result is a depletion of the cholesterol in blood.