What Are The Health Benefits Of Oats?

Hippocrates, the so-called father of the healing arts, who lived in the fifth century B.C.E., wrote that oats made into porridge or gruel (a thin porridge) "when eaten moistens and refreshes." Pound for pound, oats lead all other grains in food value. In the form of oatmeal they are rich not only in carbohydrates, 67 percent, but also in protein, 16 percent; fat, 7 percent; minerals, 2 percent, and the rest moisture or water. All told, a pound of oatmeal contains 1,850 calories. It follows that a judicious use of oatmeal can cut down on the use of more costly foods. Oatmeal is in particular a good source of vitamin B1.
One of the reasons why oats have such an advantage over certain other grains is that, when they are milled, only the outer husk is removed, the bran and the germ remaining, the vitamin- and mineral-rich portions. It is therefore far more nutritious than any breakfast food made largely from white flour or polished rice. This is indeed something to be considered, for according to Dr. Jean Mayer, Harvard nutritionist, during the last twenty years there has been a decline in the vitamin and mineral content of the average American diet.